If Only
by Jeni Draco's Girl
Summary: It's the day of the ball, the culmination of all the dance practices and shopping trips. Whatever will happen next? chapter 23.
1. The Beginning of it All

IF ONLY  
  
By Jeni Draco's Girl  
  
Words in ~s are italics.  
  
This is my first fanfic, I apologise for the extreme OOCness of everyone.  
  
~~  
  
Jeni stared blankly out the window, not paying any attention to what was passing outside. She ran her hand absent-mindedly through her smokey-blond hair. It was the beginning of her sixth year at Hogwarts and it was so foggy outside that nothing could be seen anyway. She was alone in the compartment on the Hogwarts Express. Her best and only friend Charlotte had transferred to Beauxbaton this year as her parents had moved to France to work. She sighed. This year would be a bore without Char.  
  
Jeni glanced into the cage where her grey owl Windcharm was sleeping, and wished she could drop off too. She'd been stuck in this compartment all day with no interruption save lunch. At least it was only an hour more until they arrived.  
  
Suddenly she heard a commotion outside. Glad of some kind of distraction, she got up, slid the door open and stuck her head out. And sighed. It was only Potter and Malfoy having one of their frequent brawls. You'd never guess they were both 17 - they acted like 7 year olds. At least she felt no kind of loyalty to either of them - she was in Ravenclaw.  
  
Jeni slid the door shut slowly. It was a pity, she had really hoped it would be something that would distract her for the next hour or so. She sat down again, leaned her head against the window, closing her eyes in a final last effort to sleep.  
  
She had just begun to drop off when the door slid open and closed, very quickly and noisily, and a hand was clamped over her mouth, all before she could even squeak. Then a soft velvety voice whispered in her ear, 'Don't make a sound, alright?', as the tip of a wand tapped against her temple. All Jeni could do was nod. Her back had straightened, her blue-grey eyes had widened and her whole body was tense as she wondered who it was behind her - she couldn't see him.  
  
Then Potter burst through the door. 'Malfoy,' he growled. That was one question answered. But what was going on? Thought Jeni desperately. 'Let her go.' Malfoy's hand loosened slightly but his wand was still resting gently against her head.  
  
'I'll let your little girlfriend go when you agree to 'forget' to tell the teachers what just happened out there Potter.' Sneered Malfoy. Ah yes, remembered Jeni, girlfriend. It was true, she had been out with Potter once, in her forth year, but all he'd wanted to talk about was Cho, and so the experience had not been repeated. It was over. And the whole ordeal did not exactly endear Potter to her - one reason why she called him by his surname, which normally only his enemies, like Malfoy, did. Not that she particularly liked Malfoy either - he was the son of a death eater, for God's sake. Anyway, she supposed, Malfoy needed to catch up on his school gossip a bit more. Or maybe he'd just burst in on the first compartment he'd seen with only one person in it and was grasping at any reason to blackmail Potter - what could he have done, she wondered, that he needed a hostage to blackmail himself out of it?  
  
To make matters worse, Hermione, one of the few Gryffindors Jeni liked as she had Ravenclaw characteristics, chose that moment to burst in exclaiming, 'Oh Harry, thank heavens I found you, I don't think I can fix.'  
  
'Quiet mudblood, can't you see you're interrupting?' Malfoy snapped. Hermione and Jeni both stiffened at the insult. Although Jeni wasn't muggle- born, she was half-blood. 'So Potter, what's it going to be? Forget the whole thing ever happened, or let you're girlfriend's brains get fried?'  
  
At the same time, Potter said, 'She's not my girlfriend, Malfoy,' and Hermione exclaimed 'I don't think we can just forget that...'  
  
Malfoy cut her off again. 'Granger, I thought I told you to be quiet.' He turned back to Potter. 'So...If she's not you're girlfriend I guess it wont matter if her brains get blown out, will it?' He smirked in a way that only a Malfoy could.  
  
Jeni sent what she hoped was a pleading look in Potter's direction. She liked her brains just where they were.  
  
'You can't...' Potter trailed off.  
  
Malfoy smirked again. 'Still got feelings for her, have you Potter? How sweet.'  
  
'I don't!' Potter rebutted. 'I just don't think you should drag innocent people into this'  
  
'Hmm...perhaps you're right...still, what do I care if she's innocent or not? Do you think I do? Now, Potter, we stray from the topic, will you forget the little incident out there or shall I ...?'Malfoy tapped Jeni's head lightly.  
  
'I hardly think it's a little incid...' Hermione put in, only to be cut off a third time.  
  
'Did anyone ask your opinion?' Malfoy questioned, his voice falsly polite.  
  
'No, but...'  
  
'Then shut up.' Malfoy hissed loudly.  
  
Hermione folded her arms and pursed her lips.  
  
Potter sighed. 'Fine. Have it your way. But this isn't over Malfoy, not by far.' He and Hermione left.  
  
'It won't be over till you're dead, Potter.' Malfoy whispered malevolently after him so that no one but Jeni heard.  
  
Malfoy finally let go and sat down as far away from Jeni as he could. She wondered why he didn't go back to his own compartment with his friends. Malfoy must have seen the question written all over her face. He smirked. 'Don't want to risk running into Potter again.' Jeni cocked her head to the side, confused. Didn't Malfoy want to run into Potter as an excuse to start a fight? He smirked again. 'And Crabbe and Goyle aren't the brightest people...any time away from them is welcome. You don't mind if I stay here for a bit, do you?'  
  
Jeni shook her head slowly, too afraid to disagree, then ventured a question. ' You wouldn't have really blown my brains out if Potter had disagreed, would you?'  
  
Malfoy looked thoughtful for a few seconds. 'Probably not..' Jeni's eyes widened and Malfoy smirked, amused, again. 'Nah, I wouldn't of. But I didn't have to worry about that 'cause I knew Potter would never risk it.' Jeni visibly relaxed. Malfoy looked out the window and sighed, getting to his feet. 'I'd better get back, we're almost there. Crabbe and Goyle'd probably get lost without me.'  
  
Jeni smiled shakily. 'Wouldn't that be a good thing?'  
  
Malfoy laughed. Jeni could hardly believe her ears - Malfoy, of all people, had laughed. 'Good for me, but my Father would have my skin - I wasn't joking, you know, they really would get lost. They're that dumb. My Father makes me look after them : haven't you ever wonder how they keep passing exams?' He grinned, a true smile not a smirk, as Jeni's eyes widened in shock and shut the door behind himself.  
  
Jeni couldn't believe it. Everyone in Ravenclaw wondered how they managed to pass, year after year, when they were obviously the dumbest people in the school. And here was Malfoy casually admitting to helping them cheat! Still, she supposed, everyone knew Lucius Malfoy didn't joke, he probably couldn't to save his life. So his threat of skinning his son if he didn't look after the two idiots would be best taken seriously. Jeni pitted Malfoy, who didn't have a loving dad like her own.  
  
Just then, Jeni was brought out of her quiet contemplation by the Hogwarts Express pulling into Hogsmeade station and everyone poring noisily off the train.  
  
~~  
  
DADA!! Chapter 1!  
  
Please review, no flames. ;) 


	2. Jeni one, Malfoy zero

If Only  
  
By Jeni 'Draco's Girl'  
  
words in ~ are italics. It might get a bit confusing 'cause memories are in ~'s too. I apologise for the extreme OOCness of everyone in this chapter and the first one. As I have explained, this is my first fanfic.  
  
~~  
  
The first week of school dragged on. Jeni was sitting in Transfiguration reliving the events of her trip on the Hogwarts Express a few days ago for what must have been the twentieth time at least.  
  
~'I'll let your little ~girlfriend~ go when you agree to 'forget' to tell the teachers what just happened out there Potter.'~ What ~had~ happened, anyway? Wondered Jeni.  
  
~'Quiet ~mudblood~'~  
  
~mudblood~  
  
~mudblood~  
  
The word kept echoing inside her head. How could he have said something so cruel and then been so nice to her afterwards? Unless...no, it couldn't be...surely he knew she was half-blood? That her mother was a muggle? Didn't he?  
  
~Haven't you ever wondered how they keep passing?~  
  
He couldn't know if he revealed something like that after...  
  
Jeni jumped as Professor McGonagall tapped her fingers loudly on the desk.  
  
'Miss McNite? Have you been listening to anything I've said this lesson?' the professor asked sharply.  
  
'Wha..?Oh, sorry...I was daydreaming. It, er, must have been the heat.' Jeni made up a random excuse.  
  
'Hmm.' McGonagall pursed her lips. Quite like Hermione, Jeni thought. 'Well, I suppose it is rather hot...still, five points from Ravenclaw. Try to pay attention.'  
  
The other Ravenclaws in the class shot Jeni death stares, as if to say, lose any more points for daydreaming and you've had it. Jeni didn't really care. She just missed Char. If only she hadn't left, Jeni pondered, then the whole thing with Draco wouldn't have happened...she gasped mentally. She hadn't! No she couldn't have...he was Malfoy, not Draco, NEVER Draco. She took a deep breath. She would NOT allow herself to slip up again.  
  
Finally the lesson was over. Jeni was extremely relieved. It was the weekend. She could relax at last.  
  
~  
  
The next day, Saturday, in the afternoon, Jeni was lying lazily in the shade next to the lake watching the clouds. The summer heat was still glaring down. When thought Jeni, will autumn(AN: Fall for all you people in America)come? It was her favourite season with all the pretty leaves. Summer was ~far~ too hot.  
  
She had owled Char a few days after the train incident...she felt she'd needed some time to think about it herself. Char still hadn't replied, Windcharm still hadn't returned. She supposed it ~was~ a long way to fly all the way to eastern France. Windcharm would return soon, she was sure...wouldn't she?  
  
A pair of butterflies flew across the sky. She smiled to herself and sighed. 'Look at all the little flutterbys...' she murmured dreamily to no one in particular. Unfortunately there was someone passing by at just that moment. He raised an eyebrow.  
  
'Don't you mean "butterflies,"' Malfoy asked, managing to somehow sound casual and sarcastic at the same time.  
  
'No.' Jeni replied, equally cool. She sat up on her elbows. 'They ~were~ originally called flutterbys, you know. But then they changed the name.'  
  
Malfoy's expression was unreadable. He could have been frowning, his eyes were slightly narrowed. He flicked his head to get a lock of hair out of his eyes. Jeni sighed inwardly, then mentally scolded herself. He was a DEATH EATER'S SON, she screamed at her brain. 'You Ravenclaws know everything, don't you.' He said dismissively, turning to leave.  
  
Jeni blinked, brought out of her thoughts, then smirked triumphantly, the smirk she'd been practicing all the last week in case an opportunity like this arose.  
  
Malfoy glanced back. Jeni changed her expression to innocently curious, as if to say, What is it now?  
  
'Did you just...' Malfoy trailed off, frowning, furrowing his eyebrows. Jeni continued to look innocent.  
  
'Never mind.' Malfoy finally left, looking confused.  
  
Jeni lay back down, grinning this time, not smirking, and on the verge of hysterical giggles.  
  
Jeni one, Malfoy ~zero~.  
  
~  
  
So, what do you think? I know I read the thing about butterflies being originally called flutterbys...or is it flutterbies? whichever...it makes perfect sense really, since they ~do~ flutter by.  
  
So, REVIEW!! As before, constructive criticism welcome, but no flames please!! I already have Crimson Sun to tell me how ~girly~ etc. etc. it is. But I don't care.  
  
What are you still reading for??!! REVIEW!! Or the previous threat mentioned in my bio still stands...you'll be turned into a mutated rat. To fully understand this, you'll need to read the other fanfic I have posted, called....take a wild guess, you'll never get it...Jeni's Fanfiction. It is actually written by two of my friends, Crimson Sun, and another who doesn't have a fanfic account but Crimson Sun and I call her Lupin Junior. Also, many thanks and big hugs (no matter how much she hates them) to Crimson Sun for being my beta reader!*lots of applause and cheering*. So, hit the 'GO' button! 


	3. Confusion

If Only  
  
By Jeni 'Draco's Girl'  
  
I'll say it again: ~ around a word is italics.  
  
Thank you Seductive Gypsy for your review! Hope this was updated soon enough!  
  
~~  
  
Jeni sat at the Ravenclaw table at breakfast, Monday morning. She was still pleased with herself because of her victory, no matter how small it was, over Malfoy on Saturday.  
  
She glanced subconsciously over at the Slytherin table. Dra..MALFOY was there, with his large group of admirers and fellow sons and daughters of deatheaters such as Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy Parkinson. Then, at the other end, she could see Henri Cheng, with his own group: the younger Slytherins and those who ~didn't~ relate with the deatheater group(there can't be many). Henri was in the same year as her - sixth.  
  
Jeni looked back down at her breakfast. Sunny-side-up eggs, bacon and grilled tomatoes. It had smelled delicious before, but now it was getting cold and she wasn't hungry anyway. There was still forty-five minutes till first period so she went upstairs to her dorm.  
  
Sitting on her bed, she thought about what she'd heard recently, mostly yesterday. Rumours had gotten round about Weasley being temporarily turned into a pot-plant during the journey on the train. And even Jeni, friendless as she was, had heard. The teachers thought that the three friends had been mucking around and McGonagall had managed to turn him back quite easily. Jeni rather suspected that this was what Malfoy had done and blackmailed/ransomed himself out of. But Potter had been faithful and not told a soul. Jeni ~had~ found it funny that she hadn't seen Weasley with the other two on the train. it was curious that Hermione couldn't undo it though, wasn't she supposed to be smarter than Malfoy? What kind of spell could it have been? He wouldn't dare use dark magic or something like that that his father had taught him on the train, would he? Shouldn't the teachers be suspicious? They obviously weren't, perhaps the trio did things like this all the time. She didn't know.  
  
It was very confusing.  
  
She couldn't think in the small room.  
  
It was too stuffy.  
  
The other beds in the room were blurring, all she could see was a blue and bronze swirl.  
  
She ~definitely~ didn't feel well.  
  
She needed to get some fresh air.  
  
Jeni managed to stumble to the window and poke her head outside. Thankfully the morning was still cold.  
  
She took a few deep breaths, then grabbed her books and set off downstairs to Herbology.  
  
~  
  
The Ravenclaws had Herbology with the Slytherins. They were in greenhouse six, and had been working quietly for about fifteen minutes when Henri came over and sat down next to Jeni. She flashed a glance at him, unsure.  
  
'Good morning.' Said Henri.  
  
'Hi.' Replied Jeni, confused.  
  
Henri smiled. 'Malfoy let something slip about the train trip last week, and then all the other idiots in Slytherin had to know the whole story, so everyone in the house knows now.'  
  
'Oh...'Jeni said, not sure what to say at all.  
  
'It sounded very amusing.' Henri told her, still enthusiastic.  
  
'Hmm.' Jeni thought it a rather strange conversation topic, not the kind of thing most people would bring up.  
  
'It's just like something Malfoy would do, turning Weasley into a pot- plant.'  
  
'I didn't really see him.' Jeni muttered to the plant she was working on.  
  
'Oh...too bad.'  
  
'Yes...'  
  
Someone called across the room to Henri and he gave her an apologetic glance and went over to them. Jeni was very confused as to why Henri had been so nice. Slytherins normally didn't get along with any other houses. Wasn't their motto something like, 'If a Gryffindor, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw trusts you, be glad you aren't them'? Henri was obviously not an average Slytherin. She went back to working on her plant.  
  
The whole event had been confusing and she couldn't stop thinking about Dra...*damn it* MALFOY!! She screamed at herself mentally.  
  
~  
  
Walking back up to the castle, Jeni couldn't help but be confused. Malfoy had told the WHOLE of Slytherin? Why would he do that...but why did she care? Henri was the first to have said anything to her about it, so what did it matter?  
  
She felt ~very~ hot.  
  
Strange, she thought, her brain feeling tired and cloudy, the morning's still cool...I didn't know I'd gotten so unfit over the summer.  
  
She stumbled, her eyes going blurry like before. She kept walking...what was wrong with her?  
  
The muscles in her arms felt weak, they loosened.  
  
Her books fell to the ground, opening on random pages.  
  
The world went black.  
  
Jeni fell heavily on the hard ground as she fainted.  
  
And there was no one around to see.  
  
~~  
  
YAY!! Third chapter done. What more can I say?........oh yeah........REVIEW!!! 


	4. Rescue

If Only  
  
By Jeni 'Draco's Girl'  
  
Italics are in ~s  
  
~~  
  
Jeni felt as though her brain was surrounded by fog - there was no information coming in or going out. All she could see was grey swirls.  
  
She inhaled fast, and her nose twitched. The smell of cleaning products was very strong and she figured she must be in the Hospital Wing. Her body felt like it was starting to work again.  
  
Jeni groaned; her head felt like it had split open - she'd never had a headache this bad before.  
  
~'Jeni? Jeni, can you hear me?'~  
  
She could vaguely hear someone calling to her, it sounded like they were a very long way away, whoever they were.  
  
Jeni's eye lids fluttered. The light was very bright, she shut them again as hard as she could, and tried to cover her face with her hand, but her arms were too heavy to move, and one of them seemed to be pinned down by something.  
  
~'Jeni?'~  
  
The voice sounded more urgent, and somehow familiar. She tried to place it, but she couldn't...  
  
Fingers were digging into her arm, making it tingle with pins-and-needles. If she could have talked, she would've told this person to calm down, she wasn't about to die without a fight.  
  
~'Calm down, Mr Malfoy. She's not dying!'~  
  
Another, female, voice pierced the fog.  
  
Malfoy? thought Jeni. What's he doing here? She struggled to open her eyes again, and a shadow fell over her as she tried to focus, relieving some of the brightness.  
  
~'There you are,'~ Madame Pomfrey assured Malfoy. ~'She's coming 'round now.'~  
  
Jeni groaned again as her whole body started to ache.  
  
'How do you feel?' Madame Pomfrey asked her.  
  
'I...' Jeni's voice broke as she tried to speak. She felt a glass rest against her lips and she gulped down a few mouthfuls before trying to speak again. 'I...Bloody hell Malfoy! Would you let go of my arm for God's sake!?' she cried.  
  
Her arm was immediately released and felt suddenly cold where his fingers no longer were. She looked at it and saw a row of four imprints were his nails had been digging in. She glanced up at him, and his expression, Jeni thought, looked meek and slightly embarrassed for the first time ever, and she decided, probably the last.  
  
'Here, drink this.' Madame Pomfrey handed Jeni a goblet, which she downed with a grimace, then took it back and went into her office, leaving Jeni alone with Malfoy.  
  
'So...' Jeni began, glancing around the room looking at everything but Malfoy. 'What happened?'  
  
'Well...I don't actually know what happened to ~you~, but when I came back late from Care of Magical Creatures you were just lying there...so I carried you back up here.'  
  
Jeni's heart did a backflip. Draco had ~carried~ her up here? MALFOY screamed the family-loyalty part of her brain. DRACO replied her heart. After all, her ~had~ practically rescued her, hadn't he? Who knew how long she'd have been lying there if he hadn't happened to be late back. And he ~had~ been nice, hadn't he? He hadn't ~had~ to carry her up here himself, he could have just fetched a teacher. But...that might have looked like he'd done something to her, wouldn't it? It was like her dad had always told her, 'Never trust a Malfoy. They always have an ulterior motive.' But her dad only knew Draco's father, wouldn't Draco be different? She ~wanted~ him to be different, but... she sighed, as another of her dad's sayings came to mind. 'You can't have everything you want.' Why ~not~, she thought angrily. She wanted Draco to be nice, just because his dad was mean didn't mean he had to be, did it? And...  
  
Jeni blinked, realising Draco was watching her quizzically. Her eyes locked with his for an instant.  
  
'Er...um...yeah, thanks...' Jeni frowned and looked away, confused. She turned back towards him and picked a spot in the wall beside his head to look at. 'How long have I been up here?' She asked.  
  
Draco glanced outside for a second. 'I guess about seven hours...it must be dinner time by now.'  
  
Jeni sat bolt upright with a squeak. '~Seven hours~!!' She cried. 'You're not serious!!' She stared at him, her eyes begging him to say he wasn't serious, that it had only been about two, or three.  
  
He smirked slightly, amused by her little outburst, but eventually his face went deadly serious and he nodded.  
  
Jeni flopped back onto her pillows, feeling terribly hopeless, making a noise that was a cross between a groan and a sigh. 'But I've missed so much!'  
  
Draco bit his lip, a shadow of what might have been concern passed over his face. 'Then you won't be happy to hear that Pomfrey wants you to stay here at least for all of tomorrow...' He trailed off as he saw the expression of anger that was growing on Jeni's face.  
  
'~WHAT~!!??' she practically screamed, then lowered her voice so only Draco could hear. 'If that old bird thinks I'm staying here one more second she has another thing coming.' She hissed.  
  
Jeni pulled back the blankets, pausing for a millisecond when she discovered she only had her nightie on, then swung her legs over the side and heaved herself out of bed.  
  
Only to fall flat on her face as her knees buckled beneath her.  
  
Well almost.  
  
Jeni's brain wasn't clear enough yet to register the fact that if she had stopped falling just centimeters above the ground then something must be holding her up.  
  
Two very strong and safe-feeling somethings, in fact.  
  
Draco's arms.  
  
He pulled her upright and lifted her back into bed as though she was no heavier than a feather.  
  
Jeni scowled at him. This seemed to have no effect, he just smirked back like he always did, but Jeni could see amusement in his eyes.  
  
'So,' he said, the amusement coming through in his voice, as he pulled his chair closer to the bed and glanced towards Madame Pomfrey's office, to make sure she couldn't hear, then put his head close to hers as he asked her curiously, 'What ~does~ the old bird have coming?'  
  
Jeni's only response was to scowl even harder and mutter something that sounded like, 'Hmph.'  
  
Draco pushed his chair back and stood, flashing her a genuine smile. 'I'll come and see you tomorrow, OK?' he told her, then turned and left without waiting for a response. Then he stopped and turned. 'Oh, and don't try to get up again, I might not be here to save you.' Then he was gone.  
  
'Hmph,' muttered Jeni again. Typical Draco, she thought to herself, he's so full of himself. But as she drifted off to sleep that night she couldn't help but think how straight and white his teeth were.  
  
~~  
  
And Hey Presto! Chapter 4 finished!!  
  
So please review! All comments bar flames welcome!!  
  
I apologise for any part of this sounding old fashioned, but I'm right in the middle of reading 'Pride and Prejudice' at the moment and my writing style sometimes seems to change slightly to reflect that of whatever book I'm reading at the time.  
  
A bit off the topic there.oh, yeah! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! and REVIEW! 


	5. FREEDOM and an amusing hex

If Only  
  
By Jeni Draco's Girl  
  
words in ~s are italics...if you don't know that by now then there's something wrong...  
  
~~  
  
Jeni was sitting up in her hospital bed bored. She had been there for four nights - it was now Friday - and Madame Pomfrey didn't show any signs of letting her go any time soon. So she was bored ~and~ annoyed, frustrated and generally pissed ~off~!!  
  
The only good thing to come of her being stuck in bed for five days straight was that Draco had come and visited at least once a day, and thankfully brought her homework too. It was a small consolation that she could work in peace here.  
  
Her mind turned to the reason she actually ~was~ stuck here. All the scientific words had passed her by, she was definitely ~not~ a scientific person, but from what she had understood, you do not under any circumstances take panadol for wizard-cold headaches. It had been a welcome pastime listening to Madame Pomfrey yell at her until the woman could be sure it had been drilled into her head.  
  
Jeni came out of her thoughts to think of the time. Classes must have finished by now, so Draco - her heart sighed as her head grumbled in frustration that it couldn't take it anymore and was giving up reprimanding the heart for sighing at the thought of a deatheater's son - should come soon with her days homework. There was always more on Fridays because they had more time to do it over the weekend. At least it was the start of the year still, so there wasn't any exam pressure. Jeni felt sorry for Draco, having his NEWTs at the end of this year. And...  
  
Speak of the devil, thought Jeni as Draco swaggered into the room in his usual style, holding a small pile of books. He came around to her right side and put the books down lightly as he had lifted her back into bed that Monday (AN: see chap.4). Jeni wondered if he treated ~everything~ like it weighed only as much as a feather. Her thoughts were interrupted by Draco's regular full-of-himself commenting.  
  
'You know, I think it's a good thing we have Gryffindors,' Jeni was confused. 'You Ravenclaw girls would make terrible spies, or blind-rush- into-everything-stupidly heroes like Potter.' Jeni cocked her head. Draco smiled at her. She felt herself blush. 'Exhibit A.' He continued, waving his hand vaguely in her direction. 'All I had to do was smile at them and they turned into jelly and spilled everything. I finally got them to shut up and tell me your homework, I even borrowed some of their books,' another vague wave towards the pile on the table. 'If you Ravenclaws had a secret database, it would be the easiest thing in the world to infiltrate. Especially for me,' he added as an afterthought, 'since I ~am~ so devastatingly handsome.'  
  
Jeni rolled her eyes, but felt her blush grow.  
  
'So, been having fun?' Draco asked her, sounding like he was trying as hard as he could to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.  
  
'Oh, yeah.' Jeni replied, overly sarcastic. 'I've been having a ~ball~ all day just sitting around here.'  
  
'Well,' he said evilly, lowering his voice and putting his head near hers, 'what d'you say we blow this joint?'  
  
Jeni looked at him, amused at his horrible impression of a gangster.  
  
'There won't be any need for that, Mr Malfoy.' Said Madame Pomfrey who was walking towards Jeni's bed. 'As soon as I've checked everything, Miss McNite should be free to go.'  
  
Jeni's heart leapt. She was free!  
  
Draco looked happy for a few seconds before he recomposed his cold, bored expression, but his eyes remained bright, which Jeni thought made an extraordinary change to his face.  
  
Madame Pomfrey checked her pulse and waved her wand around a bit excessively - was it possible that she was showing off? wondered Jeni - to check her other bodily functions were all working properly. 'There you are,' she said, 'once you've changed you can leave - but no unnecessary physical activity for another week.' She handed Jeni her clothes from a chair and magiced up the curtains around the bed.  
  
Jeni got up and changed as fast as she could, then grabbed her books and other belongings from the table and stepped out from behind the curtain to see Draco smiling slightly at her, amused.  
  
'What?' she question sharply.  
  
He smiled wider. 'I've never seen anyone get dressed so quickly.' He told her with a slight chuckle which shocked Jeni possibly even more then what he'd said. She turned to look back at the curtain, and was relieved to see the silhouette of the bed. All Draco had seen was her shadow! She breathed deeply, then hurried after Draco whose long strides had carried him almost all the way to the door in the last few seconds.  
  
She caught him up, and they walked in silence until she was sure they were far enough away from the wing that Madame Pomfrey couldn't hear them.  
  
'Draco,' she asked him, slightly worried, 'if she heard your awful attempt at being a gangster' 'Hey!' interrupted Draco - Jeni ignored him. 'Then do you think she heard me when I called her an old bird?'  
  
Draco shrugged. 'Does it matter?' he asked, sounding disinterested.  
  
'Yes! It does!' Jeni burst out.  
  
'Well, if she hasn't done anything about it yet, she either didn't hear or doesn't care.' He replied casually.  
  
'But...'Jeni squeaked, confused. She stopped walking.  
  
Draco sighed, stopped as well, and turned to face her, resting a hand on her shoulder. 'But what?' He asked her, his face so close to hers she felt her heart beat speed up significantly and was surprised he couldn't hear it. 'Look,' he said quickly when she opened her mouth to protest. 'It doesn't matter. Let it go.' His voice was reasonable and calm. Draco then turned and walked back the way they had come, to where the stairs were so he could go down to the dungeons, leaving Jeni standing at the entrance to the Ravenclaw commonroom feeling slightly sad and ~very~ muddled.  
  
~  
  
The next Monday, after spending the weekend doing homework and talking to teachers about classes she had missed, Jeni was sitting in Herbology with Henri, pruning Squgglebumps who just sat there with their many eyes tightly closed. They were peaceful, but very shy and easily scared, plants.  
  
'So, have fun in the hospital wing?' Henri asked, looking slightly evil.  
  
'Argh!' Jeni cried, loud enough that most people turned to look at her, but turned back around when she glared at them. 'Why,' she asked Henri in a quiet, angry whisper, 'does everyone keep asking me that?!'  
  
Henri put his hands up, sarcastically defending himself as Jeni's voice rose. He suppressed a laugh. 'Malfoy told me you would do something like that.'  
  
It seemed to Jeni that Henri was getting on with Draco better then he previously had.  
  
'However,' he continued, 'there's no reason to get revenge. I took care of that myself at breakfast this morning, when Malfoy and I had our little, er, discussion. It ought to brighten your spirits.'  
  
Jeni's expression became powerfully curious, and she opened her mouth to ask what he had done.  
  
Henri smiled and held up a finger to cut her off. 'You'll just have to wait and see.'  
  
Jeni frowned sulkily, but began pruning her Squgglebump as fast as she could in the hope that the lesson would go faster.  
  
~  
  
When the finally got out of class, behind everyone else as usual, Jeni was looking madly in every direction at once in the hope to see Draco on his way back from Care of Magical Creatures. When she suddenly saw him, she stopped dead in her tracks. Draco was racing across the grass towards them, and when he reached them, he started skipping around them in a circle singing:  
  
'Henri and Jeni, sitting in a tree; K-I-S-S-I...'  
  
'Shut up, you little wiener!' Yelled Jeni, furious enough at his ridiculous behaviour to use Char's nick-name for him. Henri only smirked, slightly.  
  
Draco paused for a second, staring at her, then burst out in another song.  
  
'Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me!' He jeered over and over, turning away from the two and skipping in random directions up towards the castle.  
  
Henri's facial expression was changing quickly from a small smirk to a wide grin, and he burst into hysterical laughter. Jeni just stared at him until he quieted down, then asked, 'This is what you did, isn't it?'  
  
Henri nodded, his shoulders still shaking with suppressed giggles. He pulled out his wand and waved it, magicing a small pile of sticks and stones on the ground in front of them. 'Shall we?' he asked, his face now composed, acting every part the perfect gentleman.  
  
Jeni just grinned and grabbed a couple of handfuls, as did Henri, and the two of them raced after Draco, pelting him with sticks and stones all the way up to the door of the school.  
  
~~  
  
Hehe!! This was very amusing and fun to write.Crimson Sun, I KNOW you wanted me to make Henri do something evil, but you of all people should know that I'm not evil at heart, so in the future, MAKE YOUR OWN SUGGESTIONS! Or something like the above my happen again, and you'll only have yourself to blame.  
  
SO! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! And if in doubt, review a fourth time! 


	6. Embarrassment , one all

If Only  
  
By Jeni Draco's Girl  
  
~~  
  
The rest of the week was rather uneventful.  
  
The next Monday, Henri and Jeni were walking back to the castle together after Herbology, rather closer to everybody else then they usually were, a fact which Jeni would find later to be a rather stupid thing to have done, and she would be wishing they had walked their usual distance behind.  
  
The group of sixth year Slytherins and Ravenclaws merged with the seventh year Slytherins and Gryffindors from Care of Magical Creatures. Jeni was too engrossed in her conversation with Henri about that day's lesson to notice or realise who they might bump into.  
  
'I think we were very lucky not to get bitten by those things.' Henri commented.  
  
'Yes,' agreed Jeni, 'I feel really sorry for all those other people who had to go to the Hospital Wing. You'd never have guessed that anything related to a Squgglebump would be so ~evil~.'  
  
They had been working that day on Squgglespikes, which had evolved from Squgglebumps. They had less eyes, but had formed mouths full of sharp teeth and spikes in place of the smooth bumps belonging to their more peaceful cousins.  
  
'I wouldn't say evil, really. Nothing's evil by nature, things or people just behave in a way which is perceived by others to be evil.' Henri said thoughtfully.  
  
Jeni looked at him curiously.  
  
'What!?' protested Henri.  
  
Jeni giggled. 'I didn't know you had such an interest in philosophy.' She told him.  
  
'Just because you didn't know it doesn't mean it isn't true!' Henri said defensively. He stopped walking, forcing Jeni to stop too.  
  
'I'm sorry,' she said apologetically, baffled by his sudden out-burst, 'but.'  
  
Jeni squeaked loudly and jumped about a foot into the air. She spun around angrily to see Draco just ahead of them, still walking but smiling devilishly back at her over his shoulder like he had in the Hospital Wing that Friday - the way that had made her blush then but now only increased her anger. He was ~laughing~ at her! She glared at his back. If looks could kill, she thought. She then turned her attention to the group of people who had formed a wide circle around her and Henri, curious to know what had caused her outburst but keeping their distance to avoid her obvious anger.  
  
'What are you all looking at?' she demanded, scowling.  
  
Everyone seemed to get the idea and turned to continue up towards the castle.  
  
Jeni muttered 'hmph' under her breath as she jutted out her lower jaw.  
  
Henri observed her warily for a few moments before asking, 'What did he do?'  
  
'He.'started Jeni, still shocked at the outrageousness of Draco's behavior and the embarrassment of it all. 'He.'  
  
'Yes?' prompted Henri.  
  
'You ~don't~ want to know.' Jeni warned him gloomily.  
  
'Of course I do, I did asked didn't I?'  
  
'Well, if you're sure.' a quick glance at his expression confirmed that he was. 'He.' another quick glance to ensure no one was within hearing distance. She lowered her voice to a whisper. 'He pinched my bum, OK? Happy?'  
  
Henri looked stunned, as though that wasn't ~quite~ what he had expected. Then he burst out laughing. Jeni just stared at him, shocked.  
  
'How can you be ~laughing~! It's NOT funny!' she said, infuriated.  
  
'Of course.of course it's not.' Henri managed to get out through his hysterics. 'But. is that all he did?'  
  
'Yes.' Jeni told him cautiously, now thoroughly confused.  
  
'Well, what's the big deal?' he asked, having calmed down significantly. He turned and continued their interrupted walk to the castle.  
  
'The big deal?!' repeated Jeni loudly as she followed him, her confusion ever growing.  
  
'Yeah. Malfoy does that to girls all the time. They don't usually squeak though. I guess that's why he found it funny - they usually giggle and rush off to discuss it with their girlfriends. But I guess you're not the type of girl he normally does that to. maybe that's a good thing,' he said thoughtfully, 'he's broadening his horizons. Good for him!' Henri finished, evidently satisfied with this conclusion. But Jeni was not.  
  
'What do you mean, 'broadening his horizons'?' Jeni asked tentatively.  
  
'Well, there's usually one date, and then he dumps them reasonably - but not too - publicly, and finds some other bimbo-ish girl. Maybe your relationship will last longer.'  
  
'Wait a second,' Jeni said suspiciously. 'How do you know all this?'  
  
Henri shrugged. 'It's public knowledge.' He stated. Jeni stared at him, her expression clearly saying, 'Huh??'. 'OK.,' he said, 'it's public ~Slytherin~ knowledge. He can't help boasting about it constantly in the commonroom, it's not like I ~want~ to hear it. Luckily, it hasn't happened at all this year.'  
  
'Wait a second,' Jeni repeated, furrowing her eyebrows slightly. 'Did you say 'your relationship' before?'  
  
'Yeah,' Henri confirmed. 'He always goes out with the girls he's, er, y'know ~introduced~ himself to. It's kind of like his, what would you call it.pick up line, that's it!'  
  
'Hmm. Well, not this time.' Jeni told him matter-of-factly. 'If he wants ~anything~ to happen, he's going to have to go about it the old fashioned way.' She paused for a second. 'Well, come to think of it, the ~ordinary~ way.' Then she thought of something else. 'Henri, is everyone going to expect me to go out with him now?'  
  
Henri was slightly stunned. 'Well, of course they are. I don't think anyone's ever refused him.'  
  
'Well,' Jeni said bluntly. 'There's a first time for everything, isn't there.'  
  
The two of them lapsed into silence as they continued their way up to the castle.  
  
Right, thought Jeni's brain irrationally, this was war. She was ~not~ going to go out with Draco. She wouldn't. He couldn't make her. And it didn't matter what her heart was thinking - logic must prevail, her brain continued, sounding ridiculously like a German leader making a patriotic and empowering speech to the nation, convinced no one could harm them.  
  
Pfft, put in her heart. They (AN: the Germans, WWII) got defeated, didn't they?  
  
But her brain was much stronger then her heart, and was also ignoring it, so it was temporarily shut up.  
  
And anyway, they had reached the castle.  
  
~~  
  
And abracadabra! Chapter 6 has been magically completed! I would just like to say that this chapter is loosely based on personal experience. And I realise that Crimson Sun is probably now laughing and wishing I was there so she could pat me on my head, but IT IS NOT FUN AND NOT FUNNY!!  
  
Now that my customary outburst at Crimson Sun at the end of the chapter is over:  
  
REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!! and REVIEW!!  
  
Many thanks! And many more thanks to anyone who has reviewed the last 5 chapters!! :D 


	7. Attempted revenge

If Only  
  
By Jeni Draco's Girl  
  
You should know by now. I won't say it again.  
  
~~  
  
Having spent all her meals on Tuesday sitting on the opposite side of the Ravenclaw table to the side where she normally sat so that she couldn't see Draco or get reminded of the incident on Monday, she had now come up with the perfect revenge, and had had all Tuesday to build up the courage for doing something like that in front of all the teachers. So breakfast Wednesday morning found Jeni sitting facing the Slytherins and, specifically, Draco with grim determination.  
  
She pulled her wand out of her bag, and holding it concealed under the table, focused on her target. She swished and...  
  
Owls came pouring through the small high windows on one side of the hall. Jeni's attention was diverted and she noticed a familiar grey bird swooping down towards her.  
  
'Windcharm!' she cried out, but the sound was lost in the general excitement of the student body at the arrival of the post. Jeni held up her fore-arm and Windcharm fluttered down to alight upon it. She quickly grabbed the letter from her owl's leg. The handwriting was distinctly Char's.  
  
Jeni stood and rushed out of the hall, upstairs to the Ravenclaw commonroom, despite the fact she was yet to have any breakfast. But she was too thrilled by the arrival of Char's letter after almost four weeks of waiting that she didn't notice.  
  
She hurried across the room and flopped down into her favourite small, squishy blue chair near the window. Windcharm walked up her arm to settle on ~her~ favourite spot on Jeni's shoulder, up against her ear.  
  
"Dear Jeni" she read.  
  
"I am ~so~ sorry that I haven't written to you for so long, but Beauxbatons starts two weeks after Hogwarts, and from the date on your letter, Windcharm must have been confused as to where to find me.  
  
"We are all having a wonderful time in France, and it still feels like we're on holiday. Now that school has started I'm getting quite good at French, and I having a feeling that right now you're glowing green with envy – I know you always wanted to go on exchange or something.  
  
"Now, as to the matter you wrote about involving Malfoy, ~forget about it!~" Jeni thought that Char would be surprised to hear that she sounded like Draco herself. "He's just a little wiener. He's so full of himself – he reminds me of those jocks on American teen soap-operas." Jeni giggled at the mental image this conjured up – of Draco playing American football in a helmet and those ridiculously padded clothes. Although Char was a pure- blood, she knew about TV and other muggle things because of Jeni. She returned to reading the letter. "So don't worry about it. I'm sure it's over by now anyway.  
  
"Keep in touch, Windcharm knows where to find me now.  
  
"Love Char."  
  
Jeni put down the letter and leaned back in her chair, smiling slightly. It would be amusing to see what Char thought of everything that had happened since that train trip. She pulled out her diary and quill, and wrote a note to herself to remember to reply to Char's letter. She felt her eyes start to fill with tears and one rolled down her cheek. She wiped it away and rubbed her eyes. It was just that she missed Char ~so~ much. But it didn't matter how much she wished, Char wasn't coming back. Jeni gave a determined sniff. If she didn't leave for first period now she'd be late, and she still had enough house pride to want to avoid that at all costs.  
  
~  
  
Jeni arrived in Transfiguration and plopped down at her desk just as the bell rang and Professor McGonagall walked into the classroom.  
  
'Alright class, settle down,' she told them, even though her presence had automatically silenced everyone and it needn't be said. The professor continued to explain that they would be turning teddy-bears into porcelain statuettes that lesson and all the complications that went with changing from one material to another. It was an introduction into their unit on things like changing rocks into animals and the like.  
  
Everyone was given a bear and told to start, and Jeni was soon to discover that it was ~extremely~ difficult. She had finally managed to turn her bear into a statuette, if not a porcelain or indeed human one, when there was a bang and a puff of smoke from across the room. McGonagall went over to investigate and began congratulating the person in her usual cool way on getting so close. The professor was far from a warm or affectionate person. Jeni joined the rest of the students crowding around to look, and saw a doll on the desk which had hard head, hands, and feet and but a soft body. It was a porcelain doll.  
  
Jeni turned away as a wave of nostalgia engulfed her and her eyes filled with tears, blurring her vision yet again. No matter how much she denied or made a show of hating it, Char had always taken great pleasure in teasing her that she looked like a giant porcelain doll with her big blue eyes and 'rosy' cheeks. Jeni had tried to complain that it made her feel like she had fat cheeks and looked about four years old, but secretly she knew Char didn't mean it that way and so didn't really mind too much. She dried her eyes quickly before anyone noticed.  
  
~  
  
That night, before she went to bed, Jeni wrote a long letter to Char about everything that had happened the last three or so weeks, from her being in the Hospital Wing to Draco and his, er, 'pick up line', desperate for her friend's opinion. When she finally went to sleep, her heart won out and all her dreams were about what might happen if she ~did~ go on that first date with Draco.  
  
~~  
  
And with that, CHAPTER 7 IS COMPLETE!!  
  
A bit short, I know, but I have a great aversion to joining scenes that I don't want to go together just to make chapters longer.  
  
Next chapter, you'll get to find out what Jeni, er, me, er, WHOEVER, is going to do to Draco for revenge...you may realise the resemblance to something in OOTP, so make sure you've read that first. Smart people will have guessed already, so review and tell me if you have – the operative word here is REVIEW!! Thanks and telepathic chocolate to those of you who have or are about to, and *pokes out tongue* to everyone else!  
  
Many thanks also to CRIMSON SUN for all her, um, support...if you can call it that. Hehe! Just kidding, CS! 


	8. More confusion and first question

If Only  
  
By Jeni Draco's Girl  
  
I won't say it.  
  
~~  
  
Breakfast Thursday morning found Jeni where she had been the day before, only with even more grim determination. She was slightly stressed that she had to get it done before the owls came again, as the longer she thought about it the less she thought it was a good idea. ~Especially~ since all the teachers were there.  
  
She took a deep breath, pulled her wand out of her bag, and holding it concealed under the table, focused on her target. She swished and...glanced quickly around. There were no owls. Jeni released her breath, swished and flicked and one ~'Wingardum leviosa'~ later Draco looked extremely shocked as he started floating into the air.  
  
Everyone in the hall turned around to look up at Draco. A lot of the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws started laughing, others just looked perplexed or worried. Some of the Slytherins tried to magic him back down, but Jeni was concentrating so hard on not breaking eye contact that they couldn't.  
  
Draco floated higher and higher until he reached the height where candles floated at dinner, when it was dark. Jeni's tongue was poking out of the corner of her mouth as she prepared to flip Draco upside down – it was a little trick she'd been practicing on books and other random objects all week. But when she flicked her wand to flip him, nothing happened. She looked up at Draco, who looked happy as Larry just floating there as if he were laying on a deck-chair. (AN: who is Larry, anyway?!) Then Jeni glanced under the table at her wand. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with it, but she flicked it to be sure, then tried to flip Draco again. Nothing. Jeni was extremely confused – if she wasn't keeping Draco up there, then who or what was?  
  
She put her wand back in her bag. If it wasn't working then what was the point in having it out? Jeni thought it would be much less suspicious if she fell in with staring at Draco like everyone else was. But then she felt worried. How was he going to get down?  
  
Her attention was drawn again to Draco – he seemed to be moving across towards her, almost as if a current in the air was sweeping him along. Jeni looked around for anyone who seemed to be concentrating on holding him up, but could see no-one.  
  
Then a weird sensation started in her tummy and she shrieked out loud as she herself began to float up into the air. Jeni looked straight into Draco's face and saw it was filled with amusement – he was laughing at her! She scowled back at him, but not too hard. Somehow ~he~ was holding them both up there and she ~didn't~ want to be unceremoniously dropped on her head.  
  
Jeni gripped her robes tightly round her knees – people were still looking up at them and she didn't want anyone to see she had pink knickers. It was just as well that she was holding them so tightly as Draco took her preoccupation as an opportunity to flip ~her~ upside down, causing her to shriek again – much to Draco's amusement. It seemed to her that he was quite enjoying the whole experience.  
  
He must have seen her confusion, as he told her calmly, 'You don't need a wand to do magic.'  
  
She scowled at him, then tried to raise an eyebrow and failed. How did he do it?  
  
'Practice,' he explained.  
  
And what was with the whole mind-reading thing?  
  
'Your not very good at hiding what your thinking,' Draco told her. 'Definitely nowhere ~near~ as good as myself.' He added conceitedly.  
  
Luckily, the owls chose that moment to make their entry, distracting everyone, including Jeni, and preventing her from bashing him over the head with her shoe.  
  
This thought, and the fact that she felt very dizzy, brought Jeni back to the present moment and she realised she was still hanging upside down.  
  
'Draco, would you mind? Before all my blood rushes to my head and I BLACK OUT!' she said in the most civilised way she could manage under the circumstances.  
  
'What?' he asked, obviously having also been distracted by the owls. 'Oh, right.'  
  
Jeni was finally the right way up. She sighed a sigh of relief.  
  
'Now, down to business.' Draco said, sounding very much like, well, a business man.  
  
'What business?' asked Jeni, very much confused.  
  
'Why do you think I brought you up here?' He asked her, looking for all the world like it was obvious.  
  
'I don't know!' she exclaimed. 'I ~thought~ it was because I brought you up here first, but ~apparently~ it isn't.' She said defensively.  
  
'~You~ magiced me up here?' Draco cried, clearly shocked.  
  
'What, don't you think I could have?' Jeni said, insulted.  
  
'Well...I, I assumed... well, that saves me some searching.' Draco trailed off.  
  
'Hmm.' Jeni frowned. 'So why ~am~ I here then?' She crossed her arms.  
  
Draco smiled and floated closer to her. 'Will you go with me to Hogsmeade next visit?' he asked her, his voice sounding like it had on the train, velvety and smooth but slightly dangerous.  
  
Jeni clenched her teeth for a second to try and calm herself down. It didn't work. 'If you think I'm going to go ANYWHERE with you JUST because you...because you...did what you did the other day, then you've got another thing coming.'  
  
She made to slap him across the face but he caught her hand just inches from it. His expression was still the same shocked that it had become at her reply. Jeni narrowed her eyes, furious at his senselessness, tugged her hand free and tried to turn and storm off dramatically, but then realised she couldn't actually move herself. How did he do that whole 'wandless magic' thing?  
  
'ARGH!' she cried. 'And can you just PUT ME DOWN for god's sake!' She barely managed to suppress a squeal as she felt herself free-fall and only slow down when her feet were a few centimeters from the ground. She scowled angrily, and looked around to see if anyone had been staring at the whole scene. They didn't seem to be and Draco had returned to his seat himself. She sat down with a sigh and finished breakfast.  
  
But there was one girl who had seen everything. And she didn't look very happy.  
  
~~  
  
Chapter 8 COMPLETE!! :D YAY! What a relief! I am having so much fun writing this! Hope you're having fun reading. 


	9. Second question and a threat

If Only  
  
Jeni Draco's Girl  
  
~~  
  
Jeni was slightly relieved and slightly apprehensive when Char's reply came a few days later as she wasn't sure that her current feelings were the same as they had been when she'd written to Char. Her determination to refuse him at all costs was breaking down.  
  
"Dear Jeni" it read.  
  
"I have to say that what's been happening to you sounds far more interesting than anything that happened when I was there ~or~ anything that's happening here. None of the people here are as good friends as you." Jeni felt her heart warm. "I'm confused about Malfoy's sudden, well, I'm not sure what to call it really, as I don't think affection is quite the right word. Personally, I think he's messing with your brain. Don't do anything I wouldn't do in your position...that's all the advise I can give you." Jeni thought it was definitely too late for that. "God knows what he will do next." Or what he ~had~ done next. "I wish more than ever I was there, but I don't think there's any chance of that."  
  
"Love, your bestie, Char."  
  
Jeni sighed.  
  
She didn't have a clue what to do, but she did know that she wouldn't write again until she knew what Draco was going to do next.  
  
Little did she know she would find out the next morning.  
  
~  
  
The following day, Jeni was walking across the entrance hall to the Great Hall for breakfast when someone grabbed her roughly by the shoulder and spun her around, causing her to lose her balance. She would have ended up flat on her back if she hadn't been caught about a foot from the ground. Jeni tried to struggle up, but found that it is extremely difficult to when a guy much larger and stronger than you is holding you right where you are.  
  
Jeni frowned and glared into Draco's face, which was inches from her own, angrily.  
  
His face was emotionless, his eyes narrowed. 'I don't take "no" for an answer.' He practically growled at her.  
  
Jeni was too terrified to reply. What did you say to something like that? Why couldn't she think of a witty reply?  
  
'I'm not the one you should be asking.'  
  
Damn his mind reading skills!  
  
'And I'm the one asking the questions.' He continued, lowering his head still closer to her's.  
  
Jeni felt she might soon pass out. Her heart was thundering in her chest. It was obvious what it thought. But her head was the one running the show, so to speak. Thankfully. Her head was logical and so the resistance movement prevailed.  
  
Jeni managed to get her hands between her chest and Draco's to push him firmly away from her. This proved fruitless. She wasn't strong enough.  
  
Jeni thumped Draco on the chest with a fist. 'Why on earth isn't anyone acting as if something strange is happening?!' She demanded, glancing out at the other students milling around as if she and Draco were invisible.  
  
'Because it isn't,' Draco replied calmly. 'I do things like this all the time.'  
  
Jeni searched her memory to find when Draco had ever done this with another girl. She didn't recall having seen or heard about it, and Char had always known everything, so...She tried to raise an eyebrow, failed once more, and sent Draco what she hoped was a what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about expression, mentally crossing her fingers that he'd get it like he always did.  
  
He did.  
  
'Oh, all right...' Draco relented. 'Maybe I didn't. But I always ~told~ people I did, so everyone thinks it's normal.'  
  
Jeni's expression changed from what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about to "right...". She was growing bored with the conversation, and her tummy was starting to rumble, so she jabbed him as hard as she could between the ribs in the hope that this would be more effective. It was most likely the pure shock of this that caused him to stand up straight, and luckily pull her up with him, instead of dropping her. Jeni managed to extricate herself from his arms and look him straight in the eye.  
  
'The answer's still no.' She told him bluntly, thrusting her chin forward defiantly, before turning and continuing on into the Great Hall in what she felt was a very esteem building exit.  
  
Draco just stood there, scowling in frustration.  
  
Jeni felt a mixed rush of emotions ranging from regret to proud resolve.  
  
And one other girl standing in the shadows at the entrance to the dungeon corridor was almost green with jealousy and hatred, and was having a hard time controlling it and stopping herself from running over and ripping Jeni away from Draco and into little pieces. She noted that she should also cut her nails – her palms were starting to bleed.  
  
~  
  
Later that day, Jeni was heading towards the stairs after charms to go down to the Great Hall for lunch when, for the second time that day, she was spun around. This time the result was more painful – she was slammed into the castle wall, and she dropped all her books as her bones reacted, much like someone automatically kicks out when you hit their knee in the right spot with a hammer.  
  
The cause of all this wasn't as pleasant for Jeni as her heart had hoped, in that it wasn't Draco. It was a girl from Slytherin, Emily something. She was in seventh year, pureblood, and all the guys chased her – she had a very coldly beautiful face and dead straight waist length dark mahogany hair. She was also almost a foot taller than Jeni. Jeni herself was at that moment confused as to the look of furious anger that was currently contorting the other girl's features. Emily was obviously not as good at hiding her emotions as Draco was – or maybe she just didn't want to.  
  
'What have you done to Draco?' she demanded coldly.  
  
'What?' Jeni managed to get out, before cursing herself for sounding so scared.  
  
The girl stepped closer, her height bearing down on Jeni. 'Why else would Draco be after you,' she practically hissed, 'Being that you're such a short little ~Ravenclaw~ of all things, than if you'd put some sort of love spell on him or something?'  
  
'I...I didn't do anything.' Jeni protested, her voice wavering. She thought she heard a rather unladylike snort come from Emily.  
  
'Well, whatever you did,' Emily said threateningly, 'Lay off, bitch. Draco's mine.' She turned away sharply, head held high, her expression once more cold and unconcerned.  
  
'I can't help it if...' Jeni started before she could stop herself.  
  
Emily turned back. 'If what?' she asked, lowering one eyebrow doubtfully.  
  
'If...if...' if I really like him! Supplied her heart automatically. No way! Said her brain. You don't like him, this is the resistance, remember? It took over her speech. 'If he keeps asking me out.' Jeni finished confidently. Her heart started sulking. 'There's nothing I can do about it!'  
  
'You can do something about it, and you will.' Emily told her darkly. 'Or else.' She finished, emphasising each of the two words.  
  
If this was a movie, thought Jeni, I would ~not~ be in this situation right now. Or something convenient would happen to take care of Emily. Or she'd die. Jeni sighed. This wasn't a movie. And what ~was~ she suppose to do about it? She looked up from the floor. Emily was stalking away, looking a lot like a cat-walk model, her hair swishing from side to side behind her.  
  
Jeni sighed again.  
  
If Char was here, she'd know what to do.  
  
But she wasn't.  
  
And there was nothing she could do about it.  
  
~~  
  
There you go, chap 9 done. Many thanks to Crimson Sun, my, er, 'bestie' (hehe) and everyone who's reviewed, I LOVE YOU! Well, except for m00nstorm77. *glares angrily at people who read and don't review* . Also, if you like the story, tell lots of people about it! THANKS!  
  
So, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW and REVIEW again!! ;D 


	10. Third question and a kiss

If Only  
  
Jeni Draco's Girl  
  
~~  
  
Jeni left the Ravenclaw commonroom on her way to breakfast two days later. She was extremely confused and slightly scared by what had happened two days ago. Emily in particular, as she had no idea what to do. She couldn't make Draco do anything! And half of her didn't want to anyway.  
  
She reached the stairs down to the entrance hall, and half way down, glanced around. She couldn't see Draco anywhere. All she had to do was hurry through the crowd and over to the Ravenclaw table and she'd be safe. At least until after breakfast.  
  
When she was almost at the bottom of the stairs, she gave one last, quick look around, and then made a break for it. She had almost reached the Great Hall what someone grabbed her roughly by her upper arm, causing her to squeak, and pulled her very hard over to the entrance to the corridor to the dungeons. Jeni shut her eyes as she was backed up against the wall. She wanted to prolong finding out it was Emily for as long as possible. She rested her head back against the cold stone, and ventured a peek out of one eye, only to shut it again in an instant.  
  
It was Draco.  
  
He had his hands against the wall on either side of her shoulders, trapping her, and his face was barely an arm's length from her's. Her heart was racing – why couldn't he just leave her alone?  
  
Jeni realised she would have to open her eyes eventually, so she took a deep breath and did. Only to find herself staring straight into Draco's and unable to look away, like a deer staring into headlights. Her breathing became heavier.  
  
'You didn't need to resort to physical violence last time, you know.'  
  
Jeni found herself speechless.  
  
'All you had to do was say "yes". Just one little word.'  
  
'But I...' she stuttered. Jeni tried to step forward, away from the wall, but in a split second she found herself back against it, with her hands up beside her head. Her wrists felt tingly where Draco was holding them. She couldn't move now, but his strength did not surprise her – especially after the way he'd lifted her like a feather in the hospital wing.  
  
Her eyes were still locked with Draco's, and all her concentration was on freeing herself from his grip, a useless effort, so when he stepped forward breaking their eye-contact, she had only a millisecond to think and instinctively close her eyes before he kissed her.  
  
For a short period of time, Jeni's mind went blank. The logic in her brain was the first to come back to the present day, and it automatically tried to pull away. But the solid stone behind her prevented this, and it had only been a half-attempt as her heart was quite enjoying the flashing heat rushing through her tummy and up through her chest, flaring briefly everywhere that she could feel Draco's body touching her's – his stomach, torso and forearms locking her's against the wall. His fingers glided up from her wrists to lace gently through her's. She'd never really been kissed before, not like this, and she wondered for a moment if there was another way. But just when her muscles were starting to relax, and her knees were turning into jelly, Draco stopped. It was a good thing he was holding her up, as she could barely support herself. If she had been able to move she would have pulled him back, kissed him again, but she couldn't, and a second later Jeni snapped back to the present as Draco started talking.  
  
'So,' he said, releasing her hands and stepping back. Jeni's arms dropped to her sides, and she felt oddly cold without him. 'I'll meet you down here on Sunday at nine.' He smiled at her in that devastatingly handsome way that melted her heart before turning and walking into the Great Hall.  
  
Jeni looked after them, her heart and gaze full of longing, her brain full of anger and contempt at his presumption. Her knees finally gave way and she dropped to the floor, letting her head thud back against the stone. She closed her eyes and groaned.  
  
What was she going to do?  
  
Jeni knew she couldn't, wouldn't, avoid going on Sunday, but she felt like she was betraying Char. Her head was full of the memory of Draco lips on her's, the heat, the sweetness and the spontaneity of the moment.  
  
It didn't even cross her mind to think of the jealous Slytherin who had seen the whole event.  
  
~~  
  
Ohhh...how sweet...R&R! many thanks and tasty jellybeans to all!...except those who don't review...you can have the pepper and earwax flavours. 


	11. The first date

If Only  
  
Jeni Draco's Girl  
  
Please remember, I'm trying to keep Draco in character with what he's suppose to be in this fic...not the books...see third sentence of this chapter.  
  
~~  
  
Sunday came far too quickly and not soon enough. Jeni's mind and heart were still divided on the matter. All she knew was that Draco was arrogant and presuming, and far too handsome for his own good. This wasn't very much to commend him, although her heart insisted that this was ~definitely~ enough, especially the handsome bit. Her brain told her heart to shut up until it had some common sense.  
  
Jeni hadn't really been sure what to wear – everyone took the trips to Hogsmeade as a chance to show off their muggle wardrobes, and since she was a half-blood, Jeni's was pretty big. If anything, this had made the decision more difficult. But in the end she'd decided to keep it simple, and went with jeans and her blue and white shirt. On her way out she grabbed her summer cloak – the weather was starting to cool off. The cloak was a shade of blue-grey that matched her eyes.  
  
She wanted to see Draco before he saw her, so she stopped at the top of the stairs and looked around the crowded hall full of students trying to find their friends. She finally saw him standing right at the bottom of the stairs, and he was looking straight up at her, rather like Rhett in "Gone with the Wind", although the situation was definitely not as romantic. He too was wearing jeans but with a pale grey shirt. Jeni looked away, her cheeks burning. So much for seeing him first.  
  
The whole time she was descending, she could feel his eyes watching her, and when she got to the foot of the staircase, she felt him grip her hand gently in his. Jeni stomach tightened pleasantly and a tingling sensation ran up her arm. People were finally being allowed to leave, and they headed over to the exit, having not said one word to each other. Their names were marked off and they left the school to begin the walk to Hogsmeade after receiving a curious glance from Filch.  
  
'So,' Jeni began in a desperate effort to begin a conversation. 'What do you want to do when we get there?' She glanced around at the sky, the trees, anything but Draco.  
  
Jeni felt Draco shrug. 'What do you want to do?'  
  
'Hey!' Jeni cried, 'I asked you first!'  
  
'So?' came the nonchalant reply.  
  
'So, you have to answer first!' Jeni told him.  
  
'Hmm...' Draco said thoughtfully. 'What to do...'  
  
'Well,' Jeni said helpfully, 'What did you used to do when you came here with other people?'  
  
'Make out.' Draco replied instantaneously, but casually, looking at her to gauge her reaction.  
  
His comment seemed to have the desired effect. Jeni was stunned into speechlessness, her cheeks turning bright red, and Draco looked away, smirking.  
  
'So, your turn.' He returned to the conversation brightly. 'What do you normally do?'  
  
'Um...' Jeni said, still trying to get the mental image of Draco making out with several OTHER girls out of her head. 'Char and I used to go to the Three Broomsticks and just sit and chat...y'know...'  
  
'Char?'  
  
'My best friend...don't you know her?' Jeni paused and Draco shook his head. 'She was really tall and had short blond hair...' Draco looked like he was thinking very hard. Jeni sighed. 'Don't worry...she's gone to France this year 'cause her father had to move for work,' Jeni had no idea why she was telling Draco this. 'I've never come without her.'  
  
'Best and only friend, eh?'  
  
Jeni nodded, looking away from him, slightly embarrassed at her limited friendship group. Very limited.  
  
'Well, I don't think I've ever come without a girlfriend myself.' Draco said, matter-of-factly.  
  
Jeni didn't find this hard to believe. 'Ever come with Emily?' she asked as they walked into the Three Broomsticks and sat down at a table, receiving more curious glances from fellow students at other tables.  
  
'Who?...oh, no.' Draco replied, realising.  
  
'Why not?' Jeni asked, curious herself. Emily ~was~ very beautiful.  
  
'Oh, I don't know...' Draco wondered. 'She's very cold, I suppose. I like people who are different from me.'  
  
Oh, thought Jeni. She felt slightly sorry for Emily.  
  
'What about you?' Draco asked. 'What kind of guys do you like? Apart from Harry Potter, of course.'  
  
Jeni blushed. 'I don't know...' she said, 'I've never really thought about it...I haven't been out with that many guys...' she trailed off, looking away, again. Why did Draco always make her feel so embarrassed? So much younger than him? It was only one year, after all.  
  
'You'll figure it out eventually.' Draco reassured her. For a moment he actually looked almost brotherly.  
  
Arg! Thought Jeni. Imagine going out with your BROTHER! She shook her head to get the thought out of her head, and inadvertently managed to flick Draco in the face with her hair. 'Arg!' cried Jeni, flushing crimson once more.  
  
Draco only seemed to be amused. 'What was that all about?' he asked, almost laughing aloud.  
  
If anything, Jeni turned redder. 'Nothing!' She yelped, her voice squeaking. 'Nothing at all!'  
  
'If you're sure...' Draco had that concerned brother thing going again, Jeni noticed. Perhaps he's not so bad after all...thought her brain. DEATHEATER'S SON! It reprimanded itself. 'I'll go get drinks, K?' He asked her.  
  
Jeni just nodded, staring at the table. Once he was gone, she clamped her cold hands to her cheeks to try and cool her face. By the time Draco returned, her face had resumed a paler shade of red.  
  
Jeni pulled her butterbeer towards herself, grateful for the distraction. She had reverted to glancing everywhere but at Draco himself.  
  
When she allowed herself a flash glance at him, beside her, she almost spilt butterbeer all over herself when she realised he had been watching her intently the whole time. She looked quickly away again, over to a table that had been claimed by a large group of Hufflepuff girls. Her eyes moved slightly to the side, and she started to see a pair of bright green eyes glaring at her across the room. Jeni stood abruptly, causing the table to wobble and threatening to knock over the drinks.  
  
'Um...Draco?' she asked, her voice timid, looking at him but watching Emily out of the corner of her eye.  
  
'Yeah?' He replied, confused.  
  
'Can...can we go now?'  
  
'But...'  
  
'Please?' she practically begged him.  
  
'Alright...' he said. 'Where do you want to go?'  
  
'Somewhere out side...' she said vaguely, heading for the door.  
  
He hurried after her, and they stepped out into the late morning sun.  
  
Jeni turned sharply and scurried off down the street, away from the Three Broomsticks. Draco easily caught her up.  
  
'What was all that about?' He asked. Jeni thought he must be doubting her psychological stability by now.  
  
'Nothing,' she answered, her voice still high-pitched for some strange and unexplained reason. She didn't want to tell him about Emily.  
  
'Is it something to do with Emily?' he said, stopping in the middle of the street and grabbing her shoulder to stop her too.  
  
Damn.  
  
'What makes you think that it has anything to do with her?' She asked, her voice wavering so much that it was obvious.  
  
He raised an eyebrow. 'That sounds like a direct insult to my intelligence.' He said, jokingly.  
  
Jeni glanced around. 'Well...Emily said that if I didn't stop doing whatever it was that I'd done to you then she'd...well...I don't know exactly, but...'  
  
'What did she think you'd done to me?' This whole thing seemed to greatly amuse Draco.  
  
Jeni looked around again and pulled him into a nearby side street. 'She thinks I've put a love spell on you or something...' She trailed off.  
  
Draco now looked on the verge of hysterics. This was something that she hadn't thought she'd ever see. 'A love spell?!' he exclaimed, leaning one arm against the wall. He was almost bent double by now.  
  
Jeni nodded, backing away slowly. Draco seemed to be losing his marbles, so to speak. She wondered if he even knew what marbles were, being pure blood and all.  
  
'I don't know what it is about you,' Draco said, regaining seriousness, 'but it definitely isn't a love spell.'  
  
He reached out to seize both her wrists and pulled her close to him, her arms folding against his chest. Jeni's face was a picture of bewilderment, her eyes wavering as they gazed into his like an animal confronted with the headlights of an approaching car. But all that stopped when she saw the gentle, caring smile on his face, the total lack of cynicism, or sarcasm that usually dominated his features.  
  
Draco slowly slipped his hands down around her waist, pulling her closer, and Jeni flattened her palms against his chest. She tilted her head back so she could still see Draco's face and he took that opportunity to lean down and kiss her.  
  
Once more, Jeni felt like someone had lit a fire inside her, the heat rushed through her veins, settling mostly down her front and arms where their bodies touched. She instinctively stretched her arms up and linked her finger's behind Draco's neck, pulling him closer, deepening the kiss. She thought she could have stayed like that all day, if her legs could hold up – right now they weren't doing too well.  
  
Finally, the communications nerve in her brain woke from it's snooze and got a message through from the logic department. It finally struck her as to what she was doing – WARNING! Screamed her brain. YOU ARE MAKING-OUT WITH DRACO MALFOY, DEATHEATER'S SON!! ESCAPE!!  
  
The message came at just the right time, as Draco's hand was starting to slip up her top, sending quite pleasant shivers up and down her spine.  
  
She grabbed Draco's wrists and pulled them away from her, stepping back quickly. Jeni turned away and drew her cloak defensively around herself.  
  
'What's wrong?' Draco asked, concerned. He stepped forward and touched her shoulder but she flinched away. 'If I'm going too fast, just tell me, I'll...'  
  
'It's not that...' Jeni cut in. 'I just...I can't do this!' She turned, looking Draco in the eye, and he could see her fear.  
  
'Do what?' he asked, confused.  
  
'This!' she cried. 'This! You're a DEATHEATER'S SON, for god's sake, I don't know what I was thinking!' she exclaimed, more to herself than Draco.  
  
'What!' Draco was shocked. 'I'm nothing like my father!'  
  
'Yes, you are!' she told him. 'You're arrogant and presuming and self obsessed – I don't know why I even came today.' Jeni turned and walked back towards the main road.  
  
'Wait!' Draco called after her. 'You're just letting Emily win!'  
  
But when Jeni turned back briefly, and Draco saw the tears, the expression, in her eyes, it was all the answer he needed.  
  
~~  
  
'The course of true love never did run smooth'  
  
so true...so true...  
  
How'd you like chapter 11, then? Major fluff attack, I know, but you'll live...well, possibly Crimson Sun won't, she'll be suffocated by the fluff balls or something, but hey! No great loss, right? Just kidding...I DIDN'T MEAN IT! I SWEAR! Why ARE you reading this if you don't like fluff?! I LOVE fluff...so cute! I can just imagine little fluff bunnies hopping around everywhere...ANYWAY...please review, please & thanks! Cute fluff bunnies to everyone who does, and evil people eating basilisks to those who don't. Except Crimson Sun, who should reverse the aforementioned threat/gift. ;D  
  
Also, just quickly, it has suddenly occurred to me what song is very...well, reasonably, suitable for this fic...so far. It's 'Little Voice' sung by Hilary Duff...If you like reading fluff, you should like her too. But anyway, I won't put the whole song here, just the chorus, but if you're that interested, and you should be, you can find the lyrics on some site somewhere on the internet. Or just review and ask me to put them up in another chapter. So, here's the chorus:  
  
"The little voice in my head won't let me forget,  
  
The little voice in my head is never misled,  
  
All of this noise is what keeps me from making a mess,  
  
The little voice in my head just won't let me get with you."  
  
R&R PEOPLE! 


	12. Reconciliation

If Only  
  
Jeni Draco's Girl  
  
~~  
  
A few days later, Jeni and Henri were lying beside the lake in the sun at lunchtime. Henri's cat Diablos was stretched out beside him, its jet black fur a stark contrast to the emerald green grass, its huge luminous yellow eyes closed.  
  
'So, how did Sunday go?' Henri asked, presumably kindly.  
  
'I don't want to talk about it.' Jeni replied grumpily. 'It was ~terrible~.'  
  
'Didn't look like it to me...' Henri trailed off, suddenly realising he shouldn't have said what he just had.  
  
Jeni was sitting up in a flash.  
  
'What do you mean?' She asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.  
  
'Nothing,' Henri replied quickly. Too quickly.  
  
'What do you mean.' Jeni all but growled at him, her fingers curled like claws.  
  
'Well...I was just watching to make sure you were okay...' Henri replied nervously, inching slowly away. Jeni looked furious. 'You know...so I could step in if it looked like he was hurting you...or something...' This was the COMPLETELY WRONG thing to say.  
  
'So you mean,' Jeni hissed, 'that the whole time Draco was practicing being a Dementor you were just watching and doing nothing?'  
  
'Yes...?' Henri replied tentatively, like a student who doesn't know if it's the right answer.  
  
'Argh!' Cried Jeni, her control snapping like a twig. 'How could you?!'  
  
'You...you looked like you were enjoying yourself...' Henri just didn't know where to stop.  
  
'You just don't know when to stop, do you?' Jeni demanded rhetorically.  
  
'Well...'  
  
'ARGH!' Jeni screamed. It was lucky there weren't to many other people around. 'Just SHUT UP!'  
  
Thankfully, Henri did. Jeni flopped back down onto the grass, her eyes clenched shut, fingernails biting into her palms.  
  
'Jeni...?' Henri ventured. 'I'm...sorry...'  
  
Jeni was silent.  
  
'Jeni?!' Henri sounded worried now.  
  
Jeni couldn't help a smile creeping onto her lips. She sighed.  
  
'It's okay.' She breathed.  
  
'Next time, I ~promise~ I won't follow you.' Henri said solemnly.  
  
Jeni raised a brow, her eyes still closed. 'There isn't going to be a next time, Henri.' She said patiently.  
  
'Of course there is.' He replied confidently. 'And you said there wouldn't be a first time...'  
  
'I didn't have much of a choice that time.' Jeni cut in. 'And I had no interest whatsoever in what it feels like to be a pot plant.'  
  
'Well,' Henri said matter-of-factly, 'Maybe you won't have much of a choice next time either.'  
  
Jeni opened one eye. 'Do you know something I don't know?'  
  
'Maybe.' Henri teased.  
  
'Are you going to tell me or will I just have to go and permanently put Draco's lights out so he can never do it?'  
  
Henri wavered. 'Weeeelll....'  
  
'Come on,' Jeni poked him in the arm. 'Tell me.'  
  
'No.' Henri stated.  
  
'Pleeaase?' Jeni begged him.  
  
Henri shook his head firmly. 'You know I'd never kill Draco, don't you?'  
  
Henri nodded affirmatively. Jeni sighed.  
  
'Fine then. Be that way.' She sulked.  
  
Henri patted her on the head. Jeni scowled. He smiled.  
  
'I'm laughing at you on the inside.' He told her, sounding almost fatherly.  
  
Jeni just scowled harder.  
  
~  
  
That Saturday, the two were out by the lake again, walking. They hadn't been talking much, and so Jeni was pretty shocked when Henri suddenly dove forward, as though someone had pushed him over.  
  
'Henri! Are you alright...' she began but trailed off into a shriek when something lifted her up into the air.  
  
'Jeez, why do you always scream so much?' a familiar voice drawled as he seated her on his broom in front of himself.  
  
Jeni scowled, even though he couldn't see her. 'Well hey, let's think. Maybe it's because I don't expect people to keep levitating me or lifting me onto their broomsticks!' She told him sarcastically.  
  
'You're really bad at sarcasm, you know.'  
  
Jeni ignored him. 'What do you want?' she grumbled, gazing over the school grounds.  
  
'I want you to go on another date with me.'  
  
Jeni could feel his breath in her ear. She couldn't tell if it was that or the flying that was making her stomach tie itself into knots.  
  
'I would have though that it would be obvious that I didn't want to.' She snapped back at him.  
  
'We're pretty high off the ground.' Draco commented casually.  
  
Jeni glanced down nervously. 'So?'  
  
'So,' Draco continued, 'I would be pretty tragic if you were to...fall.'  
  
It was obvious this was not what he meant.  
  
'Are you threatening me?' Jeni was rightfully suspicious.  
  
'No, of course not.' Major sarcasm here.  
  
Jeni frowned and crossed her arms. She didn't have to worry about falling unless Draco moved his hands from where they were holding the broom in front of her. 'Can you just take me back down?' she was very frustrated by this whole event.  
  
'I don't think so...' Draco replied casually, 'Not yet.'  
  
The broom slowed and hovered over the Forbidden Forest.  
  
'I'm nothing like my father.' He stated.  
  
Jeni was silent.  
  
'Just because he's a presuming, arrogant Death Eater doesn't mean I am. Voldemort's gone. There aren't any 'Death Eaters' anymore, anyway.'  
  
Jeni turned, swinging one leg over so that both were on the same side, to face Draco.  
  
'It's just hard to let go of what you've been told your entire life.' She whispered, staring determinedly at his chin. 'And my Dad's always told me that Malfoys are the ones to stay away from, and not get involved with.'  
  
'What about your mother?' Draco asked hesitantly.  
  
Jeni's eyes flickered up to his briefly. 'I...never knew her.' She answered, looking away. She knew later that she should have told him then.  
  
'Sorry.' Draco apologised.  
  
Jeni shook her head, and turned back to face him again, her sad blue eyes gazing into his shielded grey. Why could she never tell what he was thinking?  
  
'It's just hard to let go of what you've been taught your entire life.' He told her with a friendly smirk.  
  
Jeni couldn't help but smile.  
  
'So, how about that second date?' Draco was grinning widely now.  
  
Jeni sighed, resignedly. 'Well, you were going to rope me into it somehow.' She joked.  
  
'That I was.' Draco agreed.  
  
And with that, he turned around and flew them back down to where Henri was waiting by the lake, smirking superiorly. Jeni just poked her tongue out at him.  
  
~~  
  
YAY! CHAPTER 12 IS DONE! I HAVE DELT WITH MY WRITERS BLOCK!...of sorts...Now I just have to come up with a second date...hmmm...this will take some thought.  
  
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ENCORAGMENT CRIMSON SUN! also Emma and Michelle...and let's not forget MELANIE! There you go, you got CAPITALS! 


	13. The second date

If Only

Jeni Draco's Girl

~~

After breakfast the next morning, Sunday, Jeni met up with Henri in the entrance hall. They had planned to go out by the lake again – it was a beautiful Autumn, and all the leaves were turning shades of red and gold. It was Jeni's favourite season, and she intended to spend as much of it outside as she could. 

Diablos purred contentedly from Henri's arms. Henri sighed. 'You are getting far too fat to be carried everywhere, you know?' he told the feline. It just peered up at him pleadingly with its huge headlight eyes. Henri groaned. 'Don't look at me like that,' he snapped. Diablos looked away. Henri groaned again and dumped the cat on the stone floor. Diablos screeched angrily at him and stalked out the door, closely followed by the Slytherin and the Ravenclaw.

Jeni sighed at the glorious sight of Autumn. It was truly beautiful. Someone tapped her on the arm. 

'Want to go flying?' he asked.

Jeni looked at Henri. Henri nodded encouragingly. 

'We can go over the forest…'

Jeni wavered.

But only for an instant.

The Forbidden Forest was putting on a spectacular display of Autumnity. 

'Let's go!'

And before she knew it, Jeni had been swept off her feet by a tall blond on a Firebolt. A far cry from a towering knight on a white horse, but…she'd take what she could get in the meantime. 

Jeni was experiencing a large sense of de-ja vu. Real de-ja vu. After all, she was seated on a broomstick, in front of Draco, and fast approaching the forest. Well, fast approaching until he came to what would have been a screeching halt in a muggle car. This served Draco's purpose exceedingly well, as Jeni flew forward under the influence of inertia, and he had an excuse to grab her around the waist and pull her back against him.

Jeni rested her head on Draco's shoulder, and looked back up at him. Draco smiled. It was a very romantic few seconds before Jeni sat forward again to look at the leaves below.

Although she couldn't see, Draco smirked from behind her, then, with one arm around her waist to keep her from falling, he feinted straight downwards, only to pull up just as their feet skimmed the top branches, a red-gold leaf in his free hand. 

When they reached hovering height once more, he loosed his arm from around Jeni's waist and she swung her right leg over to sit sideways facing him.

Draco made a show of presenting Jeni with the leaf. She giggled, amused, but accepted it in an aristocratic fashion.

'So, does this classify as a date?' he asked.

'Well, you asked, I accepted,' Jeni began, counting off on her fingers, 'We went somewhere, you gave me a…er…leaf…, there's only one thing missing,' she said, left pointer resting lightly on her right pinky.

'And what would that be?' Draco asked, leaning forward to rest his forehead against hers.

Jeni smirked slightly, a bare shadow of Draco's own, before, surprised at her own confidence, she whispered, 'You haven't kissed me yet.'

Draco returned the smirk before touching his lips to hers. Jeni was slightly surprised that her only thought was of falling off, but that was soon forgotten as Draco's arms moved to encircle her waist, pulling her closer to him.

Jeni slid her hands up around his neck, closing the few centimeters left between them in a second. She could feel his feathery soft hair under her fingers, and the heat coursing through her veins was amazing. She couldn't feel the slight chill of the early Autumn day at all.

A loud whistle from below brought her back to reality, and, breaking away, she peered over Draco's shoulder towards Hogwarts and the lake where there was a small crowd of onlookers staring up at them. Jeni flushed bright red right up to her hairline, and moved back from Draco, her arms still resting around his neck, his still around her waist. When he looked down and saw the gathering, he only grinned wickedly.

'How's about going down and meeting your fans?' he asked, flashing a devilish smile at her.

'MY fans?… Fans!?' was all Jeni could manage.

'Yes, your fans,' Draco told her. Jeni would have sworn she could detect a hint of pride in his tone. 'So far as I can tell, most of them are Slytherin guys…I doubt they'd be whistling at _me_.'

If possible, Jeni only blushed even harder. Draco simply turned the broom around, quite calm, and steered them back towards the ground.

When they landed, Jeni looked at everything but the group of guys waiting there for them. She followed Draco back towards the castle, trying to ignore those following Draco and slapping him on the back in a congratulatory manner. _He_ seemed to be taking it all very good-naturedly. Jeni stared at the grass beneath her feet.

'Hey,' said Henri on Jeni's other side.

She smiled weakly, still slightly awed and confused by the…er…welcoming committee. 'Hey,' she returned.

Henri grinned. 'Told you that you'd go on a second date.'

Jeni frowned. 'You didn't tell the rest of the Slytherins too, did you?'

'Well…' Henri wavered.

Jeni glared.

'Okay, okay…we had bets on whether you'd go or not…'

Jeni closed her eyes and counted to ten. One, two, three, four…stuff this, she thought.

She turned and punched Henri as hard as she could in the arm. Admittedly, this wasn't very hard  - Henri just stood there looking rather amused. But it did help Jeni calm down. She took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly.

'Okay,' she began, and when no one listened, she yelled, 'STOP!'

Thankfully they did.

'Okay,' she began again. 'No more bets. None. No speculating, no saying, "Hey, I wonder". At ALL.' She looked around. 'Am I clear?' Muttering and nodding. 'Good. It's not called a private life for nothing, you know.' She turned and continued up to the castle, leaving a group of slightly stunned Slytherins behind her.

Only one followed, casually slinging his arm around her shoulders.

'I'm impressed.' His breath tickled her ear.

She scowled. 'Yeah, well, I'm not going to put up with it.'

'You've only made yourself seem greater in their eyes. Not many lay down the rules like that to Slytherins. Well, actually, no one that I've ever seen.' 

'It wasn't "laying down the rules",' Jeni snapped. 'It was standing up for my human rights. Last time I checked, I _was_ one of the species, you know.' 

He gave her a one armed hug. 'Getting better,' he told her, 'getting better.'

~~

DUN-DUN-DA-DA!! *flicks wand* Chapter 13, COMPLETO! I rock…thanks to CS, RLJ, EMMA and MELANIE, whose support has meant a lot to me. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! Also to everyone who's been reviewing, I LOVE YOU! 

Alright…now, I realise that inertia is a funny kind of word to have in a fanfic, but we're doing it in science at the moment and so it's kinda been drilled into my brain. If you don't know what inertia is, it's basically that things like to keep doing what they're already doing. So it's like how you can pull a table cloth out from under the glasses and stuff without them falling over if you pull it fast enough (don't try this at home, I WILL NOT be held accountable for you breaking any glasses or ANYTHING) because the force is applied to the cloth, not the glasses, and the glasses like being where they are just fine, thank you very much.

Ok…there's been enough fluff in this chapter. *Sees fluff bunny hop past behind her computer* OH NO YOU DON'T! *gets up to chase and recapture it to put back in the cage…* 

CYA!


	14. Very fair Draco baiting

If Only

By Jeni Draco's Girl

SORRY SORRY SORRY that this has taken so long…

...

The next day, Monday, everything seemed back to normal. Well, at least as normal as it could get when you were dating a Slytherin and actually had _fans_, of all things. And these 'fans' had taken up a lot of Jeni's spare time in speculation. She was thoroughly confused as to why, all of a sudden, she had found herself being chased by Draco and greeted constantly by a group of male Slytherins whom she had never met before and who were now her supposed 'fan club'.

She had, of course, avoided telling Char about any of the details of her last few weeks, and had kept up a regular stream of correspondence to avoid suspicion, because Char was the last person you wanted to have on your bad side, and she was sure she didn't want to know what Char might do if she found out that Jeni was dating the Slytherin Char hated the most. Sitting in DADA, a class her father had _insisted_ she take even though You-Know-Who had been defeated, Jeni saw the scene in her head for the millionth time. But she still couldn't understand 'fans'. Her father was an Auror, one that had been involved in the fall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and the capture of Draco's father, who had somehow gotten himself out of a life sentence in Azkaban. Draco, she figured, mustn't know this. Otherwise he would _never_ have had anything to do with her, and would probably have determined to make her life hell.

But the other Slytherins were the most confusing thing she had ever come across. Why did they like her? Was it because Draco did? Draco definitely commanded _some_ respect, though not as much as he had originally. Jeni had been unable, at the time, to figure out which group they belonged in – Draco's or Henri's. But Henri had been there with them, had been betting against them, and there were two things this could have meant. One, that they were Henri's group, his friends; or two, that Henri had joined Draco's group. Both were equally ridiculous, when she thought about it. If it was the first, then why did they like her? Was it because Henri did? But if they were all Henri's friends, then why had they been congratulating Draco? Had the two groups suddenly become friends without her noticing? If it was the second, why had Henri joined Draco's group? Were they suddenly best mates? It was true that Henri had seemed to be more friendly towards Draco recently, but if they were friends then why had Henri followed her on her first date with Draco? Wouldn't he have trusted him?

Then it clicked. They _must_ be Henri's friends if he'd been betting with them, and Draco was just being more mature, and accepting of others. This conclusion satisfied her enough, no matter _how_ unlikely it may or may not have been, and Jeni's concentration snapped back to what this years Defence teacher was saying. She was lecturing about the Unforgivable Curses and other spells used during the Second Wizarding War - when You-Know-Who had finally been defeated - again. Jeni was sick to death of hearing all this.

'Thousands of people were tortured…' the professor was saying.

Yeah, thought Jeni, and twenty more are being tortured right now just listening to you. She was only the tiniest bit more interesting than Binns had been – Jeni had dropped that subject as fast as she could. She was shocked that there actually _was_ a N.E.W.T. level History of Magic class at all, but, she supposed, not everyone was the same…or maybe some people had to take it for whatever line of work they wanted to pursue.

Jeni still didn't know what she wanted to do, but she had chosen subjects she enjoyed, with the exception of DADA…and Potions…, as this is what she had been advised to do in Careers Counseling. So she was taking, among other things, Transfiguration and Herbology, which were her two favourites, though what she could do that involved these two things together was beyond her. Transfiguring plants didn't sound like a job description. She was quite good at DADA, no matter how much she hated it, but transfiguring dangerous magical plants didn't sound like much either.

Finally the bell went, and she was able to escape to recess, meeting up with Henri in the entrance hall like she normally did. However, today there would be no walk outside. There was a ferocious storm pouring down rain and she didn't like their chances of surviving a walk like that.

Instead, they headed upstairs to the library, where it was much warmer, and found seats next to one of the roaring fires.

'Have fun in Defence?' Henri asked, slightly sarcastically.

'Humph! Yeah right,' Jeni replied sullenly.

Henri's eyes flickered up, and over towards the door. 'Well, this ought to cheer you up,' he told her.

Jeni frowned and turned towards the double doors at the library entrance. 'Draco!' she cried.

He smirked. 'Miss me already? You saw me just yesterday,' he teased, sliding onto the couch beside her and settling an arm around her shoulders.

Henri rolled his eyes. 'Please, no! The last thing this boy needs is an ego boost.'

'Hey!' Draco sat up straight indignantly. 'I'm a man, not a boy.'

'You just keep telling yourself that,' Jeni joked, patting Draco's hand.

'Alright already, I know when I'm beaten.' Draco sighed resignedly, outnumbered two to one. He flopped back in the chair.

Jeni pouted at him. 'Aw, poor Drakkie. Been out numbered, have we?' She was somehow managing to keep a straight face through all of this.

Draco stood up. 'Just wait 'til I'm back with reinforcements,' he said.

'Ah, but I think you're forgetting something, aren't you?' Jeni raised a brow. 'I thought the majority of the male population of Slytherin were a fan club just waiting on my beck and call.'

Draco sighed again, slumping back down in the seat. 'Fine, fine. Like I said, I know.'

Jeni took his hand in hers, intertwining their fingers. 'Of course you do. Well, at least, I should hope so. I'd hate to think I was going out with someone of inferior intellect.'

Draco scowled, but Jeni amended this slight bad mood by giving him a quick kiss. 'All better?' she asked like a concerned mother.

'Course it is,' he replied pulling her closer.

'Maybe I'll be going,' Henri said slowly.

Jeni sighed and pulled away. 'No, it's fine,' she told him.

Draco made a noise that sounded like a five year old who has been denied a present.

Jeni just leant close to him and whispered, 'There'll be plenty of time for that later, K?'

'Fine,' Draco said with an exaggerated air.

Henri and Jeni just smiled at him.

'Are you two in ca-hoots, or something?' Draco asked suspiciously.

'Now, that's an interesting issue,' Henri began, like someone giving a lecture, 'Because we first have to ask, what exactly is "ca-hoots"?'

Jeni nodded along, looking completely interested.

'Arh!' Draco exclaimed theatrically, throwing up his hands. 'I give up.'

'Well, that's good,' Jeni said. 'I like to know I'm in control of my man.' She leaned towards him, and Draco leaned in also, until their noses were touching.

'Well, it's good to know I'm your man,' Draco replied, flashing a glance at Henri, who looked amused. '_Not_ your boy.'

'Hmm,' said Jeni, thoughtfully. 'No. I wouldn't go out with a boy. Mind you, how can I be sure you _are_ a man?' Her eyes twinkled suggestively.

Draco just smirked, and pulled her closer to him, so that their legs were pressed right up against each other. Jeni slipped her arms up around his neck. 'Maybe you better reassure me?' she suggested.

Draco kissed her fleetingly. 'How much reassurance do you need?' he asked, teasingly.

'I'd say a good fair bit,' Jeni told him, amazed at her own forwardness.

Draco smiled slightly, and kissed her again.

Henri muttered something that might have been a 'Pfft,' and left the library, slightly annoyed at being so easily forgotten. But he rationalised that if he himself was in that situation…no, he thought. That would _never_ happen to him.

...

Aw…ok, so, thanks to CS, RLJ and MELANIE, also EMMA (Cap.) and other friends for support…including the other EMMA and HANNAH. They've actually been bugging me to update…wow… Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, I love you all, bar m00nstorm77. That would be a bit off, if I loved him…ewww!!

This chapter wasn't really serious…just a bit of VERY LEGAL Draco baiting. That's right…you CAN'T SUE! And it was fun to write…doubt it was that fun to read, but I am doing this for MY OWN amusement, not anyone else's, as you may have guessed.

The fluff bunnies have stayed out of this chapter…is that one I see hopping across the library?…no, just my imagination…if you have any questions about stuff you don't understand, that's what reviewing is for. But more than likely it just hasn't been explained yet because you will find out later…YES, you will because I will finish this story. I will. WHY WON'T YOU BELIEVE ME!? deep breath . OK, I'm fine.

CYA!


	15. Third date and what's wrong with Henri?

If Only

Jeni Draco's Girl

AN: SORRY x 10 000 000. There. That should be enough. I'm REALLY sorry that this has taken so long. Now R&R.

...(the squiggles aren't working...-.-)

Friday afternoon found Jeni half asleep at her desk in Potions. Professor Snape was lecturing an unfortunate Hufflepuff, who had managed to do something to their potion to make it turn green instead of orange, on the importance of remembering to actually add porcupine spines, but Jeni didn't really care. She'd finished about ten minutes ago and was waiting for the lesson to end whilst gazing into her simmering cauldron. The week had crept by amazingly slowly. She hadn't seen Draco since Monday, and had only had a few minutes this whole week to talk to Henri. The Christmas holidays were still seven weeks away, too.

Professor Snape swept past, his robes billowing behind him on some slight breeze. He glanced around the dungeon classroom, the same frown as ever marking his face.

'You may clean up now.' He barely whispered, yet the whole class heard him clearly. 'Everyone must decant some of their potion into a flask and leave it on my desk to be marked.' The Hufflepuff whose potion was green looked panicked now. 'When you are done, you may leave.' He returned to the front of the room in only a few grand strides, and sat down at his desk, watching them tidy up over steeped fingers without any sign of emotion.

Jeni sighed, pulling herself to her feet. She returned her unused ingredients to the cupboard, and waved her wand to clean her cauldron after she'd handed in her sample. After a quick glance to ensure nothing had been forgotten, she grabbed her bag and left.

The corridors below ground, where the dungeons were, were chilly. Jeni hurried along, her robes pulled tight around her. She stared straight at the ground, looking out for uneven stones in the floor, ever mindful of the embarrassing incident in her first year when she'd tripped over in front of a whole group of Slytherins who'd laughed every time they saw her for a week afterwards. When she thought of it, she recalled that Draco had been part of that group, though he hadn't laughed…

Lost in the memory, she didn't notice a looming shape ahead of her until she walked straight into it.

'Hey!' cried the shape playfully, grabbing hold of her shoulders to stop her falling backwards.

'What?…oh…'Jeni trailed off when she saw who she'd run into. Her face broke into a grin and she threw her arms around his neck, laughing. 'God, I haven't seen you since Monday!'

Draco smiled back. 'Yeah, well, not much I can do about that, you know.'

He turned and continued walking with her in the direction she was going.

'Just have potions?' he asked, his arm around her shoulders.

'Uh-huh.' Jeni answered glumly.

'Not much fun, then?'

'Gee, you think?' Jeni muttered. 'I'm only in this class 'cause I got a high enough mark last year in exams. _And_ I needed another subject.'

'Well, Father chose my subjects,' Draco told her.

'Oh!' Jeni said, feeling guilty that she was complaining about one subject when Draco probably had several he hated.

He smiled. 'It's not that bad,' he reassured her. 'Most of them I would have picked myself, anyway.'

'What wouldn't you have picked?' she asked, curious.

'Care of Magical Creatures, definitely,' he replied. 'Especially after that Hippogriff mauled my arm in third year.'

'But I thought that you were just faking that.'

'Well, still. Besides it was a good way to annoy Potter and his friends.'

'Hmm…would you still pull something like that now?'

'Of course not! Who do you take me for?' Draco replied pompously.

Jeni couldn't help laughing. 'So manipulating innocent young girls into going out with you is a different Draco how?' she teased.

Draco sighed like it was oh-so-obvious. 'Back then I wouldn't have bothered with the manipulation. The first time you said "no", you'd have ended up a pot plant faster then you could say "Salazar".' He grinned, the same devilish grin that always made Jeni's knees weak as it did now. 'And since when are you innocent?' Jeni frowned. 'Anyway, I have recently discovered talents of manipulation that mean I no longer need to resort to childish hexes.'

Jeni smirked slightly. 'Obviously these talents of manipulation don't extend to the male half of the species, or else Weasley wouldn't have ended up a pot plant.'

Draco shrugged. 'There's only so much I can do,' he said, by way of explanation.

By now they had reached the bottom of the stair case. Jeni had to go up to the Ravenclaw dorms, and Draco had to go back the way they'd come, to Slytherin.

Draco's arm was still around Jeni's shoulders, and he pulled her close to him before placing a quick kiss on her lips. 'I'll see you down here tomorrow morning, after breakfast, K?'

Jeni nodded in reply, a faint smile on her face. Draco raised an eyebrow in question, curious, but Jeni lifted her chin defiantly, and started up the stairs.

Draco just sighed, slightly, and turned to reenter the cold, gloomy corridor he'd just left. He felt like it was just that bit colder and gloomier without Jeni beside him.

...

The next morning, Jeni was humming as she got up, dressed, and left her dorm, crossed the commonroom, and headed down the corridor towards the stairs. She was still humming as she descended and made her way across the Entrance Hall. And she was still humming as she sat down at the Ravenclaw table and started breakfast. In fact, the humming only ceased when she glanced up towards the Slytherin table to see Draco's serious grey eyes staring at her. A quick smile flashed across his lips. She smiled slightly in return, then looked back down at her food.

The humming resumed.

No one seemed to notice that the two got up at the same time, and made their way over to the large doorway.

Draco hand touched Jeni's lightly as they fell into step beside each other, and he bent down to whisper in her ear.

'Wait outside; I have to get something from my dorm.'

She nodded, and headed straight out.

Draco crossed the Entrance Hall towards the corridor to the dungeons.

Emily sat scowling in her seat at the Slytherin table, having seen the short exchange between the raven and the snake.

And Jeni stood, shivering slightly, just outside the door to the castle.

She had been there for about five minutes, and was beginning to wonder what was taking Draco so long, when there was a "whoosh" from behind her and she was flying up into the air on a broom for about the third time in two weeks. Although she couldn't see him, she felt sure that Draco was grinning. At least, she thought, he should be happy that I didn't scream this time.

'Hey,' Draco began. 'You didn't scream this time. Definite improvement.'

Jeni just grinned herself; thinking that this whole mind reading thing wasn't so hard after all.

'You know what?' she called back over her shoulder.

'What?'

'Maybe I should get to steer this thing for once, after all I've put up with, the number of times you've…er…swept me of my feet.'

'Well…' Draco wavered, stopping the broom in midair.

Jeni looked back at him over her shoulder, pouting.

'Oh…okay,' Draco relented.

'Yay! So…' Jeni wasn't exactly sure HOW to fly a broom.

'Ready?' Draco asked. He didn't seem to have noticed her sudden apprehension. He just took his hands off the handle in front of her and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder. 'All yours.'

'Um…okay…how do I…um…make it…'

'Make it what?'

'Um…go?…ahh!'

As soon as Jeni had said the word, the broom shot forward. She was barely able to keep herself from screaming. She could hear Draco laughing out loud behind her.

'What did I do?' she asked, bewildered. 'Make it STOP!' Jeni really did scream this time as she almost flew forward over the handle of the broom as it came to a sudden halt. 'What the…!'

Draco was still laughing, but managed to control himself relatively quickly. 'Don't tell me you don't know how to fly!?' he exclaimed.

'Fine then, I won't,' Jeni said, crossing her arms.

He gave her a hug. 'The broom responds to your thoughts, silly!'

'So…?'

'So when you think "go", as I'm sure you were just before when you said it, it goes.'

'Um…okay…'

'Give it a try,' Draco said encouragingly.

Jeni shut her eyes tight and thought, go _slowly_. The broom started forward at a manageable rate. She opened one eye, then the other.

'See?' Draco told her. 'It's not that hard, is it? After all,' he added, 'If Potter can do it, then everyone must be able to.'

Jeni ignored the insult to both herself _and_ Potter and just concentrated on flying straight. She thought for a second, then sighed. 'This _is_ much more fun when _you're_ steering.'

'But of course,' Draco said, matter-of-factly. 'There has to be _something_ I'm better at, else how would I impress you?'

Jeni smiled, and lent back against him, as Draco took control of the broom again.

'Ready?' he asked.

'Ready,' she affirmed.

Draco accelerated rapidly around the west side of the castle towards the quidditch pitch, but he didn't turn off, instead he continued around the castle, until the lake was coming into view, along with the forest. They sped on around the building, spiraling upwards, until they reached the very top centre – the astronomy tower. Draco slowed the broom and flew carefully through the window to land.

Jeni dismounted stiffly and sat down on one of the benches. 'Phew!' she sighed, slumping. She ran her hands over her hair, trying to smooth the wind blown curls. She looked up and laughed when she saw Draco's hair – it was standing up in all different directions. He just scowled and ran his fingers through it, but only succeeded in making it spikier. Jeni giggled.

'Come here,' she said, turning sideways to her right on the bench and motioning for Draco to sit in front of her. He did so, but there was still a slight scowl on his face.

Jeni finger-combed his hair into some slight resemblance of neatness, and was just starting to enjoy the feel of Draco's fine hair on her hands when he cleared his throat rather obviously. Jeni started, and realised she'd just spent a full two minutes sitting there combing his hair! She snatched her hands back and muttered an apology. Draco just turned and gathered her in his arms, a faint smirk on his face.

'What?' Jeni asked, trying to keep some of her dignity.

'Nothing,' Draco replied, seemingly innocently. 'Just wondering what took so long.'

'Well…er…your hair's really…fine, and smooth…and, um, it feels nice.'

'Hmm,' Draco said, distracted, as he raised a hand to her head and ran his fingers through her hair, brushing it back from her face. 'Turn around.'

Jeni frowned slightly, but obeyed, swiveling around. She closed her eyes as Draco began to comb her hair, his hands gentle and oddly comforting. After about three minutes she shifted slightly, her legs were starting to go to sleep. She felt Draco pause momentarily at her movement, then gathered all her hair together and pulled it out of the way over her left shoulder, at the same time leaning forward to kiss her neck, fleetingly, on the right. Jeni's hand flew to her neck, and she span around to face Draco, who seized her around her waist immediately and kissed her.

Jeni froze for a second, surprised, before slipping her hands up around Draco's neck and tangling her fingers in his hair, pulling him closer to her. Draco's fingers tensed slightly against her back as he remembered something, and he pulled away from her. He glanced out the window.

'Come on, we should go. It'll be lunch time soon.' He squeezed her hand.

Jeni pouted. 'I suppose,' she said, sadly.

'Don't worry,' he said, smiling wickedly. 'We can always come back up again after.'

'Hmm,' Jeni agreed, returning the smile.

Draco picked up his broom and slid his arm around her waist. They descended the spiral stairs together and walked down towards the Great Hall.

Outside the library they ran into Henri.

'Gods! Where have you been? I've been looking everywhere for you guys,' he gushed, extremely un-Henri-like.

Jeni and Draco just looked at each other knowingly.

Henri raised his hands. 'Say no more, I think I'd rather not hear.'

'You're probably right,' Jeni told him. 'Anyway, shall we continue? I'm famished.'

'You weren't a minute ago,' Draco said, an eyebrow raised. 'As I recall, you didn't want to come down -'

'Arh! I don't want to hear it! Say no more!' Henri cried theatrically, clamping his hands over his ears and jumping up and down.

Jeni frowned and cocked her head. 'What do you think is wrong with him?' she whispered to Draco. 'I mean, he doesn't usually want to hear, but he also doesn't usually react this dramatically.'

'I know what you mean,' Draco replied. 'It reminds me of something, but I can't quite figure out what.'

'What did you say?' Henri asked, having finally taken his hands off his ears.

Jeni and Draco glanced at each other again, and said simultaneously, 'Nothing.'

Henri frowned, but didn't press it.

The three entered the Great Hall together, Jeni leaving the two guys to sit at the Ravenclaw table. Henri sat down after a quick scan of the Slytherin table, Draco beside him. Henri had deliberately sat at the opposite end to a certain female, from whence he could sneak quick glances at her without being too obvious. But not much escapes the watchful eye of Draco Malfoy, and he soon remembered what it was that Henri's behavior reminded him of.

It reminded him of his own behavior around everyone else when he'd been trying to get Jeni to go out with him.

It would seem to Draco that Henri had a little crush.

He smirked.

This should prove to be of some amusement to both him and Jeni.

...

HEHE! Henri has a crush!! I can't wait for CS's reaction when she reads this…giggle

Anyway, hope this was…um…at least entertaining. Jeni isn't perfect! She can't fly a broom! But…whatever…

I know this is the second time that Draco's looked out the window and mysteriously known what time it is…well, he has to somehow since wizards and witches wouldn't have watches, would they? Watches are muggle inventions. So whilst people like Harry or Hermione might have one, Draco wouldn't as he's strictly pureblood, and wouldn't associate with anything muggle related.

I am extremely proud of myself…this chapter is 2523 words! (7 pages, size 12, Times New Roman…if you wanted to know.) YAY! My longest yet!

Thank you SO much to HANNAH and EMMA for being so patient, and for bugging me cause that's what gets these chapters posted…no one else bugs me, so…(Jeni looks sad and abandoned) (sniff)...the little asterixes aren't uploading...-.- Oh well…I shall live…hopefully…PLEASE REVIEW EVERYBODY! Or I may die…

There seem to have been an over abundance of fluff bunnies in this chapter…how could that have happened…OH NO!! I must have left the cage door open accidentally! (imagination asterix)Quick glance(and again) ARGH! The cage is empty!! What will I do?! The fluff bunnies are loose! (pretend asterix)Hurries off to search under bed and in other fluff-bunny-hiding spots(once more please)

CYA!!


	16. The lake and the library

If Only

Jeni Draco's Girl

Specially for Hannah, who waits so patiently. ENJOY!

...

'Oh my God!' Jeni exclaimed. 'Are you sure?'

Draco nodded.

'I can't believe it!' she cried. 'Henri has a crush on -'

'Yes,' Draco cut her off.

'And you're absolutely, without a doubt -'

'Jeni,' he cut in again, 'You remember how he was acting yesterday?'

Jeni nodded, frowning slightly. Of course she remembered Henri's extreme reaction at even the tiniest of hints that they'd done what most boyfriends and girlfriends did, and the way he'd clamped his hands over his ears and jumped up and down in the middle of the hallway.

'Well, I did the exact same thing in the Slytherin commonroom when I was trying to get you to go out with me.'

Jeni stared at him in disbelief. 'Am I hearing right? _The_ Draco Malfoy was jumping up and down in the middle of the Slytherin commonroom like a five-year-old? I find _that_ hard to believe,' she teased.

'Not exactly jumping up and down,' Draco said defensively, 'but I was extremely frustrated and probably would have punched anyone who even mentioned kissing. Most likely,' he added thoughtfully, 'Because I wasn't in on the action myself, so to speak.'

Jeni managed to suppress a giggle. 'Come to think of it, that's really sweet.' Jeni lent against him momentarily.

'Yeah, well, if we can get _her_ to think so, then that'll be a miracle in itself.'

Jeni flopped back on the grass under the willow next to the lake, and sighed. 'I _still_ can't believe it.'

Draco smiled, leaning back on the grass and then rolling over onto his stomach so that he was lying next to Jeni, propped on his elbows, his face inches above hers. 'You know you said that already, right?'

'Hmm,' Jeni replied dreamily, not hearing a word he said. She was too busy staring at his face, her eyes memorising his features, and enjoying the pleasant rush of feelings flooding her body and settling somewhere around her heart. There was a wonderful warmth growing along her side where Draco barely touched her.

Jeni's eyes traveled down his face until they fixed on his lips, her eyelids fluttering closed as he finally lent down to kiss her. The gentle touch became firmer, and Jeni's hand came up to graze the side of Draco's face before meeting her other hand behind his neck.

Draco's hand brushed her shoulder, briefly, before slipping down to her waist, and before she knew it, he'd rolled back, pulling her over him and round again, until he was lying on top of her! Jeni, or at least the small part of her brain that could still think straight, felt this was a rather compromising position, and anyway, it was quite uncomfortable to have all the weight of a nearly-full-grown man on top of her. With a tremendous amount of effort, she was able to rock sideways until she was on top of Draco, however, due to an overestimation on her part, she was then underneath…on top…underneath…and they were rolling down the slight slope, tangled in each others arms, at an ever-increasing speed, until…

Jeni shrieked as she found herself very cold and very wet and straddling Draco in knee-depth icy water at the edge of the lake. It was this last realisation - that she was keeping Draco's head underwater, that is - that caused her to stand up, and promptly fall back into the water with a splash and another shriek as she tripped over him.

Draco sat up, spluttering and looking murderous.

Jeni squeaked and stood shivering, partly because she was freezing, and partly because of Draco's glare. Her eyes were locked with his; she could see his anger…

Draco burst out laughing. 'God,' he managed to say, 'The look on your face was _priceless_!'

Jeni paused, then scowled. 'Why you…' she growled at him. Before Draco knew it he was underwater with Jeni on top of him again, pummeling his chest as hard as she could - which was, as has been previously mentioned, not very hard.

This time, however, Draco seized her wrists and sat up, Jeni still sitting on his lap. The water came up to his shoulder.

'Don't you ever scare me like that again!' Jeni cried, struggling to free her wrists.

'Scare you? What are you talking about?'

'I thought you _hated_ me or something -'

'How could anyone ever hate you?'

'Stop side-stepping the situation! Flattery will get you nowhere!'

'In the past it's always gotten me everywhere…' Jeni glared at him. '_Sorry_. Okay then, is there some way I can make it up to you?'

'I'm sure you'll think of something,' Jeni said sarcastically, a small smirk on her face.

'Hmm,' Draco agreed, pulling her towards him.

And that was how Henri found them a few minutes later: still sitting in the water with not even enough space for an atom between them. Given his current state of having a crush on … someone, he didn't just turn and leave. Instead, he let out a rather obvious 'Whoops!' which practically had a visible exclamation mark, before turning…

'Wait! Henri!' Jeni cried, disengaging herself from Draco and standing up. Draco grumbled but did likewise.

Henri turned back, and decided it was best to ignore what he'd just seen. 'How come you two are _drenched_!?' he asked theatrically.

Jeni and Draco glanced at each other, and realised that they were, indeed, soaked through.

'Ahem…well…' Jeni stuttered.

'You probably don't want to know,' Draco supplied, his voice unwavering.

'You're probably right,' Henri intoned. 'Anyway, it's getting on for five o'clock, so maybe you should come in and dry off before dinner.'

Jeni and Draco both agreed to this, and they stepped out of the lake. Draco pulled out his wand and pointed it at Jeni. '_Evaporium_,' he muttered, before casting the same spell on himself.

Jeni was impressed. She'd never heard that charm before - since she'd never fallen in a lake before - and she told him so. 'But,' she added as they walked towards the castle, 'I'd still like a shower and then a bit of a sit beside a fire…I'll meet you in the library? The fires are _huge_ in there.'

Draco agreed, and so half an hour later Jeni entered the library fully showered, changed, and feeling a lot better for it.

But Draco still wasn't there.

Instead she found Henri sitting on a large sofa, staring pensively into the flames. Jeni plopped down beside him.

'Sickle for your thoughts?' she asked.

Henri jumped visibly. 'What? Oh… I wasn't really thinking about anything important.'

'U-huh…' Jeni found this hard to believe, given what she knew, and since she doubted Henri thought of _her_ as unimportant. But just then Draco arrived, and put an end to the silence.

'What _took_ you so long?' Jeni asked curiously. 'Logically, _I_ should have taken longer than _you_.'

'Well, _I_ wouldn't want to walk around the castle half-groomed now, would I?' he asked, reaching up a hand to lightly check that his hair was still perfect.

Jeni rolled her eyes, remembering its state of disarray the previous day and ignoring the fact that he was suggesting _she_ walked around half-groomed. 'You're just _begging_ for someone to come along and mess it all up,' she told him. Then she smirked. 'I bet Potter or Weasley would _love_ to…or I could just do it myself…' she teased, raising a hand.

'Oh, no you don't!' Draco told her, holding out his hands defensively. 'Keep away from the hair!'

Jeni pouted. 'Aw! But you look so cute with it out!' she whined. 'Why'd you have to gel it in the first place?'

'Because I like it like this,' he said. 'And it looks better.' This _was_ his opinion, but he said it just to get a rise from her…

'Does not!'

He smirked affectionately. 'You're so cute when you're angry.'

'Flattery will get you nowhere.'

'You know you said that already, right?' he asked, taking a step towards her.

'And what are you going to do about it?' she challenged, a spark in her eye, her chin tilted up, as she also took a step.

'Maybe I'll have to shut you up.' Another step.

'Maybe you won't have to.' And another.

They were now standing right up against each other, Jeni's hands resting lightly against Draco's chest. His hands came up to gently encircle her waist.

'Why?' he whispered.

She didn't answer.

Instead, she curled her fingers into the front of Draco's robe and pulled him down to kiss him, hard. Draco was taken by surprise, if only for a second as a Malfoy is _never_ surprised, but he reacted soon enough, pulling Jeni tightly to him, nearly crushing her against his chest, and returning her kiss with equal fervour. Jeni's knees felt weak and she felt like her body was burning up and freezing at the same time.

Jeni's brain just stayed quiet and reflected on what hormones did to teenagers.

Jeni finally pulled away, with a wicked smirk on her face.

'What?' Draco mouthed.

Once more she didn't answer. After all, actions speak louder than words. So she put both her hands up behind his head, and then quickly raked her fingers forward, through his hair. This time Draco really _was_ taken by surprise, and he cried out, but not too loud since they _were_ in a library. Jeni just giggled at Draco's now spiked-up hairdo.

Draco scowled and pulled a comb out of his pocket.

'You carry a _comb_ in your pocket!?' Jeni cried, shocked at his vanity.

'Sure,' he replied, as if everyone did, and then made to comb his hair straight back the way it had been.

'_Oh_, no you don't!' Jeni said, slightly mockingly of the way he said it before. She reached out. 'Hand it over.'

'But…' Draco was speechless. 'I can't just leave my hair like this!'

'You probably could…' Jeni giggled at the look on Draco's face. 'That look was _priceless_!'

Draco grinned devilishly. 'If I recall correctly, the last person to say that ended up with the other one on top of them.'

Jeni bit her bottom lip, then said, 'Now is neither the time nor the place, Draco.' Her eyes twinkled mischievously. 'Now, come over here so I can comb your hair for you.'

Draco relinquished the comb with a defeated look, and followed her over to the fire.

Jeni pulled a stool from a nearby table over to him. 'Sit.'

He did so, briefly wondering why he was allowing her to speak to him like a dog, and she walked around him a few times, holding the comb in one hand and tapping the other with it, looking critically at his hair.

'Looking at it won't get it done, you know,' he told her. 'And we have to go down to dinner in about ten minutes.'

'Right…' Jeni said, not really listening again. 'Okay…' She parted his hair in the center, combed a few strands forward to fall over his eyes, and then gave it all a couple of strategic flicks with her fingers to fluff it up a bit, as it was still stiff from the gel, and she didn't want it to look like someone had carved it from stone.

'There,' she said. 'Finished.' She lent forward to whisper in his ear, 'And it looks _way_ better than that sculpture look you seemed to be going for, too.'

Draco smirked. 'Are you sure that's what you want?' he asked, standing. 'After all, we _are_ about to enter a hall half full of excitable teenage girls, and I am in no doubt about the _rest_ of my physique.'

She rolled her eyes. Vain as ever. 'Well then it won't make any difference, will it?' Her eyes glittered. 'I'll just have to make it obvious that you're mine.'

'Oh, I am, am I?'

'Yep.' She turned to Henri, then back to Draco. Jeni doubted Henri had even noticed Draco had arrived in the library. He was still staring, trance-like, into the fire.

Draco winked at her, and stepped over to Henri. He clapped him on the shoulder. 'Henri,' Draco began, 'Jeni and I have been making out here for the last twenty minutes.'

This definitely succeeded in bringing Henri back to the real world. 'What!?' he cried, earning a sharp "Shush!" from Madame Pince. 'Why are you telling me that?' he hissed at Draco.

'Because you were totally out of it and we're going down to dinner.' Draco explained flatly. 'Coming?'

'Of course.' Henri stood and followed Jeni and Draco, who were hand in hand, out of the library and down the hallway.

When they reached the Great Hall, Draco slowed, holding Jeni back too. She opened her mouth to ask why, but Draco held a finger to his to tell her to be quiet. Henri hadn't even noticed and had entered the hall. They stopped just inside, and watched as Henri sat down at the Slytherin table and lent forward, resting his chin on his hands, and staring straight down the other end at a female who seemed oblivious of his attention.

'That,' Jeni whispered to Draco before leaving him to go to the Ravenclaw table, 'Is _so_ _cute_!'

Draco had to agree as he sat down beside Henri. He'd obviously fallen hard.

...

And that is the truth! When Henri falls, he falls hard. I almost feel sorry for him, considering…WHOOPS!! You don't get to know that yet!

Has anyone guessed? I think it's VERY obvious by now…

I almost don't want to see CS after she's read this…

I just want to say that they MUST have gel in the wizarding world, and if you have a problem with this assumption, then too bad!

Also, I WAS _NOT_ comparing Draco to a dog…that was something that I added in on the third or so reread cause that's just what it seemed like.

LOTS of fluff in this…that's right, the fluff bunnies are still on the…er…rampage? Anyway, they're still free. So if you find one, email it to me…I'm sure you'll find a way…oh, and FYI, if you find one and it's hungry, they like fairy floss. Under NO conditions are you allowed to feed them/it cat food. That's not good for them at all!

"'The fires are _huge_ in there.'" ("THE BOOKS ARE BURNING!" cries Crimson Sun)

THANKS TO CS, RLJ, MELANIE (special thanks since CS is VERY unenthusiastic and so Mel has taken over as beta), EMMA, HANNAH and EMMA (the other one). I LOVE U GUYS!!

CYA!!


	17. A misunderstood present

If Only

Jeni Draco's Girl

Chapter 17

…oooo…it's so exciting…(I haven't written for ages, so…)

Also, I don't think I can apologise enough to Hannah for how long this has taken me to get posted. Thanks so much for staying with me.

MANY HUGE WONDERFUL CHOCOLATE FLAVOURED THANKS to my fantastic beta MELANIE.

----

Jeni rolled over and groaned as she opened her eyes, momentarily blinded by the light of Sunday morning. She shut her eyes and rolled over again.

Then froze.

It was light, but it was winter. That meant one thing to her.

She was late.

'Argh!' Jeni sat bolt upright, squinting as she forced herself to get used to the light. Today was a Hogsmeade day, and she should have been up…she glanced out the window…approximately half an hour ago.

This was _not_ good.

Jeni scrambled out of bed, wincing at the coldness of the stone under her feet. She hurried around to the end of the bed, threw open her trunk, and started rummaging through it for any clean clothes. She finally found a pair of brown corduroy pants and a shirt with pink roses on it, changed quickly, pulled on socks, shoes, scarf, gloves and her cloak and ran out of the dorm and down the stairs and arrived at the entrance hall just in time to find most people gone and Draco and Henri waiting patiently for her.

'You took your time,' Henri commented.

Jeni scowled.

'It would appear that you forgot to brush your hair…' Draco said thoughtfully. 'Think this might come in useful now?' he added with a triumphant smirk, offering her the comb he'd had last Sunday in the library.

Jeni just scowled harder, and took it.

The three made their way out of the castle after getting their names marked off, to discover that the past night had produced the first snowfall of the season. Jeni's mood lightened immediately. She quickly handed Draco back his comb and ran down the steps to jump into the fluffy whiteness…and sank halfway up to her knees.

'Pretty impressive for the first fall,' Henri said, looking wishfully up to the sky which was mostly shielded by pale grey clouds. Jeni was quite sure she knew exactly who he was thinking of.

Draco stepped down onto the snow. He didn't sink.

Jeni stared at him. _Surely_ he weighed more than her…

'I'm sure I do too,' he informed her, 'And,' he said when he noticed her looking down at her stomach, 'You _don't_ need to go on a diet.' Jeni looked back up at him, still confused. 'Maybe it's just magic…' he added cryptically, though Jeni was sure he was referring to that of a wandless kind. He said nothing else, and they started off on their way to Hogsmeade.

Not soon after, they were sitting, nice and warm, in the Three Broomsticks, hands wrapped around mugs of butter beer.

'Anyone got any idea what to do after all this?' Jeni asked, trying to make conversation.

'What, we're not going to sit here all day!?' Draco asked in mock surprise.

Jeni rolled her eyes and ignored him.

'Actually,' Henri said quietly, 'I have something I need to buy.'

'What is it?' Jeni asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

'Nothing important,' Henri replied quickly. 'Just something…'

Jeni frowned. 'Would that be a "something I'm going to go buy now so I'll see you later", or a "something I'll just pop in here and get so you can tag along"?'

'Um…the first one,' Henri replied.

'Right. Well then Draco, what do you want to do?'

'Hmm…that's a very open ended question, you know,' he said, raising an eyebrow.

'Okay then, what do you want to do today, now, while we're in Hogsmeade and that therefore directly relates?' Jeni asked, ignoring his blatant suggestiveness.

'That's better. But I have no idea.'

'Feel like wandering about and seeing what takes your fancy?'

'Sounds like a plan to me. Henri, when will we see you?'

'Hmm…probably at the post office…say, eleven?'

'Done.' Draco, Jeni and Henri all left together, Henri heading off down the street in the opposite direction to the other two.

'I wonder where he's going,' Jeni said, completely clueless.

'I can make a very well educated guess,' Draco said. 'He's going to buy some special present for his beloved, and then mail it to her anonymously.'

'How'd you figure that out?'

'Well, he's looked dreamy all morning; he's going shopping without us, and particularly without the benefit of a female's,' here he gestured to Jeni, 'advice, and then he's going to meet us at the post office.'

'Oh, dear lord!' Jeni exclaimed, stopping in her tracks.

'I know! Why would he buy _her_ something when I doubt that she even knows he exists?'

'Not that!' Jeni cried, 'The "female's advice" part! I think we both know he definitely needs it, especially since he's buying for _her_! We have to find him!' She rushed off down the street in the direction Henri had gone before.

Draco rolled his eyes, muttered something unintelligible about women, and followed her.

They found Henri some minutes later at the window of a jewellery store, and went to stand either side of him.

'Hmm,' said Jeni quietly, looking over the things in the window. Henri jumped, but she ignored him. 'I think she'd like that one,' she said, pointing. 'Draco?'

'Hmm,' he replied. 'I like this one better,' he pointed at something else. 'What do you think, Henri?'

'What do I…well, um, I…I like this one.'

'Ooo...' Jeni saw what Henri was referring to. 'Wow.'

The necklace that Henri was indicating was silver, a thin chain with a pendant formed from a single silver line that curved around to shape a heart with an 'E' in the centre.

'I think it's perfect,' said Henri.

'Me too,' added Draco.

'Me three,' Jeni put in.

'I think that settles it then,' said Draco, clamping Henri on his shoulder and causing him to stumble slightly. 'In you go.' Draco pushed Henri towards the entrance to the store. They both heard a bell tinkle as he entered.

'That's so romantic!' Jeni sighed. 'Do you think she'll like it?'

'I hope so,' Draco replied, 'If only for Henri's sake.'

After Henri had bought the necklace, they went to the post office where he chose a jet black owl to deliver it that night at dinner. They had then begun the walk back to Hogwarts quite quickly, for it was growing dark early and they were becoming rather cold.

On their return, they all went to their respective dorms, to change and warm up a little, having agreed to meet up again after dinner.

Dinner came, and Jeni went downstairs, into the Great Hall, and chose a seat where she could see Henri, Draco and _her_. Then, about ten minutes into the meal, she looked up as the gasps of several students heralded the arrival of the owl.

Jeni watched it descend toward the Slytherin table, and saw Emily's shock as it landed right in front of her, and held out one leg with a silver package tied to it. She took it and the owl flew back out the window. All eyes in the hall were now upon her. It was so quiet that you could have heard a pin drop. As it was, the only sound was that of wrapping paper being ripped, and there was a collective gasp and a few "Aww"s from around the hall as Emily opened the box and everyone saw the necklace within.

Pansy, sitting across the table from Emily, got straight to the point. 'Who's it from?' she asked bluntly.

'I don't know,' Emily replied. 'There's no note.' She scanned the table, her eyes resting on each Slytherin male in turn. When she reached Henri, Jeni could see a muscle near his eye twitch, even from the other side of the hall. But she moved on, just one space, to Draco.

And paused, with what looked like realisation dawning on her face.

Draco looked worried.

Henri looked furious.

Jeni bit her lip anxiously.

Emily started to smile. 'Oh Draco!' she exclaimed. 'You shouldn't have! Of course I knew it couldn't _possibly_ be true that you actually _liked_ that Ravenclaw girl!'

Jeni, Draco and Henri all leapt to their feet simultaneously.

'I knew it all along! We were always destined to be together…' Emily continued to rant, aware only of her audience, mainly Pansy, and not of the fact that Henri had stormed out of the hall, closely followed by Draco and then Jeni.

Henri had stopped right in the middle of the Entrance Hall, and was fuming quietly.

'Oh, Henri!' Jeni cried. 'I never imagined that she wouldn't think it was you! Especially considering that Draco and I are…you know…'

No answer.

'And I'm sure it was an honest mistake. She didn't really know any better, and it's not like you put a note in it, so really-'

'Jeni,' Draco cut in, 'I don't think you're making it any better.'

'Sorry,' she whispered.

'I thought she'd laugh at me if I said who it was from,' Henri murmured, barely loud enough for them to hear.

'Oh, Henri,' Jeni said again. 'I'm so sorry!' She stepped closer and put her arms around him.

'Jeni -' Henri objected, trying to pull away.

'No. I think what you really need right now is a hug.'

Henri sighed and gave in.

Draco cleared his throat rather loudly. 'Ahem. I would appreciate it if you'd stop pawing other-'

'Oh Jesus, Draco, can't you see Henri needs a hug?'

Draco just scowled, but brightened slightly at Jeni's next comment.

'I think you need a hug too.'

--

'So what are we going to do?' Jeni asked Draco the next day at lunch.

'There has to be some way we can get Emily off my back and, well, onto Henri's.'

Jeni frowned but otherwise ignored Draco's terminology. 'What we need to do is convince her that Henri's better than you.'

'Thanks.'

'Get over yourself.' Jeni sighed. 'Maybe we should do what they did in _Much Ado About Nothing_.'

'And that is?'

'Find somewhere where Emily will over hear us whilst still thinking it's accidental, and have a conversation about how much he's in love with her.'

'I don't think he'll thank us for it.'

'Hmm…maybe we can modify it a bit.'

'What's the plan?'

-------------

OK, so that was a bit short…but now there's a VERY long author's note…more like author's essay…so you'll live. CS will anyway. (CS: Gack! Bleed shock DIE Dead body of Crimson Sun is now on the floor of the L3 music room) sound crew from Jeni's Fanfiction rejoice after having suffered countless belting from CS

Ahem…Jeni ignores dead CS. So, now everyone knows who "_her_" is. Pretty obvious, wasn't it?

There's a lot of ignoring going on…not just in this chapter either.

Also, I realise that both Draco and Jeni thought that Henri couldn't pick jewellery himself, and then it turned out that he did, but obviously Draco and Jeni are just underestimating Henri's…er…style. Maybe he's a metro sexual…at any rate, he's NOT gay…I should think that that's pretty obvious given his obvious attraction to a female…at least I think that Emily's a female…oh, what the hell, I'M THE AUTHOR, and I say Emily is FEMALE. So there. And I also say Henri is DEFINITELY NOT gay.

OK.

It's probably not physically possible for everyone in the hall to see what Emily got, unless they were seated in an amphitheatre or something…with telescopes…but anyway…and everyone was looking because the owls don't usually come at night.

Once more, thanks to CS, RLJ, EMMA, MELANIE is cool, HANNAH and EMMA…

The fluff bunnies have all been caught…I think one may have eaten some cat food…if you fed it, SHAME ON YOU!! I said fairy floss only!! (CS is magically revived for three seconds, enough to say 'THE FLUFF BUNNIES ARE EEEEEVIL! …in a non-cool way, if you know what I mean…Because the only cool-evil here is yours truly-' three seconds are up, CS is now dead again)

Yes, well…I will make funeral arrangements…maybe it's better this way…CS won't have to read any more…and this way, at least she didn't die from committing suicide by jumping off the overpass and getting run over by a truck just cause she failed maths…(CS's ghost has come back to haunt Jeni and is reading over her shoulder. She tries to press the backspace button but her hand goes straight through it.) Hey, CS is back! Now she HAS to read more! YAY!! (CS's ghost speaks: 'You're not psychic are you? 'cause I still don't have my maths exam back…') Ahem…well…we'd better hope I'm not…

And now, may I present an excerpt from Jeni's Fanfiction, which firstly is a good example of just how clueless ff!Jeni is, and also should make you read Jeni's Fanfiction.

Please.

AN: Ok, just so you know what's going on, Jeni's been captured…again…and the Severus Snape is actually Snape's son…this is parody after all. Here we go:

Jeni woke up again on the cold hard floor, and peeked open one eye just to be on the safe side. There were no giant rats. Jeni was very relieved, as if she fainted again she'd probably never wake up and that would mean some people would be very upset.

'Oh who am I kidding,' muttered Jeni, rolling her eyes at herself. 'They probably forgot about me again. If only Severus-'

She stopped, remembering her betraying friend, and made a mental note to punch Severus Snape in the face the first moment she could.

Jeni regarded her surroundings. She was in some sort of room, in some sort of cage. There was a desk in front of her and a couple of bookcases lining the walls. The place was very uninviting. Not that Jeni could go anywhere anytime soon, she thought.

'Hey, what's that?' Jeni just noticed loose pieces of paper within her reach on the desk in front of her. She reached through the gaps between the bars of her cage, which were conveniently enough just as wide as her arms, and grabbed the pieces of loose-leaf.

'The Secret Confessions of Professor Hojo.' She read aloud, then her eyes widened at what she just read. How convenient!

'"First and fore mostly, I am not gay. (Just to get this down on paper to reassure myself. Certainly not written down for any heroes who might conveniently get a hold of this) I plan little for the puny worthless wizard named Severus Snape, but thought that as long as I am in this world, I might as well as get a few pawns for Jenova so she'd stop glomping me. Anyway, when this whole ordeal ends, I will sacrifice him as well as that girl of his."'

'I knew it!' muttered Jeni. 'Poor Severus!'

But then she remembered her fervent desire to hurt Severus herself and ceased feeling any kind of pity for him.

'"The resurrection of Sephiroth is coming along well. I just need a suitable body for him. I don't quite know why I need little Jeni's soul for the whole operation. Perhaps I shall find out later. Jenova's mind works in strange ways. I mean, she also likes spaghetti and meatballs for breakfast!'"

Jeni made a face at the piece of paper.

'"I'll discontinue this now, as each word I write could be used against me. I'll remind myself to destroy this sometime. However, since I am extremely occupied, I would excuse myself if I forget to remind myself.

Signed

Hojo'"

Jeni took a deep breath. For a while she just stared. This whole document had opened her eyes indeed!

'I mean, what kind of person likes pasta for breakfast?' questioned Jeni. Then she looked puzzled and scratched her head. 'No, sorry, I mean, what does he mean he needs a body for "Sephiroth"?'

And there you have it. End of excerpt.

Now go and read Jeni's Fanfiction, the WHOLE thing, and review. Thankyou.

WC: 2655


	18. Quidditch is coming

If Only

Jeni Draco's Girl

* * *

"Well, I think I may have an idea," Draco said as they walked around the lake that afternoon. It was chilly, and their breath was fogging in the air, but it was a beautiful clear day: the lake was frozen over and there was a good two feet of snow on the ground, giving Hogwarts the appearance of a winter wonderland. 

"Really?" Jeni replied eagerly. They had both been thinking hard for the last half hour, but were yet to come up with a viable idea.

"What we have to do is provoke Emily enough, in public, to say something about how much she thinks I love her, so that I can tell her how wrong she is, and she'll be so embarrassed that she'll get together with the first available male with the intention of getting back at me," Draco explained.

"Then all we have to do is ensure that the guy is Henri."

"Exactly."

"Hmm…" Jeni wasn't exactly sure how easy it would be to firstly, provoke Emily enough, and secondly, make sure Henri was around. She told Draco this.

"I'm sure you'll find," Draco replied, "That Emily is fast approaching the phase where she is highly unsure about the whole situation. No matter how much she says that she's sure I don't like you, she can't really believe it herself. And besides," he added just as Jeni began to object, "If that isn't true, than the fact that she thinks I've just proclaimed my love for her to the world, and yet am still going out with you should easily be enough to get her riled up."

Jeni had to agree with Draco here.

"So when are you going to do it?" she asked.

Draco smiled slyly.

Jeni frowned.

"What?"

"It's less of a case of when _I'm_ going to do it, and more of a case of when _we're_ going to do it."

"Why do _I_ have to be involved? And what exactly did you have in mind when you said 'provoking'?"

"Because we," he said softly, as he stopped walking and pulled her close to him, "Are a team. Aren't we?"

Jeni looked down. She _really_ would prefer to avoid Emily at all costs. Images danced before her eyes of waving meat in front of starving tigers. This was sounding just as safe.

"Jeni," Draco whispered, tilting her chin up with a finger.

Jeni wavered.

Draco kissed her, and she felt herself almost melt. She also had a feeling that this was what he meant by 'provoke'. But how could she say no when he said her name like that, when he kissed her like this? She sighed, defeated, and pulled away.

Jeni glared at him for a second before the corner of her mouth quirked upward, a shadow of a smirk.

"You're evil, Draco Malfoy."

He smiled back in that devastating manner.

"I know."

* * *

In the Great Hall at dinner that night, Professor Dumbledore stood up to announce the beginning of Quidditch season, and that Slytherin would play Gryffindor in two weeks time. 

Jeni glanced down the table at the fourth year boy who'd replaced Cho as seeker. Unless he was some kind of natural, she didn't think they'd be able to beat anyone except the Hufflepuffs. Even that was looking doubtful. Still, it wasn't as if she could do any better, she thought, remembering the last time she'd tried to fly a broom.

Gryffindor would probably win. They always did with Potter as seeker. But still, she wished that Draco could catch the snitch for once. She looked over at him, only to see that he was glaring powerfully past her towards the Gryffindors, and sighed. She would have to say that Draco seemed to have a _little_ bit of an issue.

After dinner had finished, Jeni walked over past the Hufflepuff table and met up with Draco and Henri.

"Are you going to be alright, Draco?" she asked him concernedly.

"What're you talking about?" Draco replied distractedly, still glancing over toward Potter and probably wishing he'd randomly drop dead.

Jeni just looked at him. "You're not _serious_? You're _still_ staring at him. _I'm_ the one you're suppose to be staring at!" There was no reaction. "Right then. Henri and I'll just go elope together and I'll leave you to Emily shall I?" Still nothing. Jeni groaned, grabbed his tie and pulled his head down to her level. "_Look at me Draco Malfoy_! You can beat him. Just stop obsessing, already! Gods! You know," she continued, finally releasing him and turning to leave, "Maybe if you just _practised_ a little more, you'd be as good as him."

_That_ finally got his attention.

"What!? I do practise! And I am as good as him!"

"Funny," Jeni replied, pausing and turning back, "You don't seem to have won yet."

"But I…and it's…and you…he…That's not fair," Draco said sulkily.

Henri chuckled.

Draco glared.

Jeni pouted cutely at him.

"Aww. Of _course_ it's not, Drakie."

Draco scowled. "Don't patronise me," he growled.

"But it's so easy -"

"That's it! You're in for it now." Draco strode forward and grabbed her hand, tugging her off in search of a deserted classroom.

"In for what?" Jeni asked innocently, quietly thinking to herself she might rather enjoy it.

As Jeni's voice faded around the corner, Henri glanced over at where Emily was sitting with her friends at the table, laughing prettily, and sighed. There was no way he'd ever get her to like him, he thought. Then he saw her fingering something around her neck. He squinted at it. It was the necklace he'd given her. Well, he thought to himself, there's always hope. With this, he turned and left the hall, not noticing Emily's split second glance at him.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Draco stuck his head out of a classroom somewhere on the third floor.

"All clear," he said as he stepped out, closely followed by Jeni. She giggled. "What?" he asked, a smirk on his face.

"Nothing," she replied, and giggled again. "Well, alright," she conceded when Draco raised an eyebrow. "It's silly…it's just that I've never done that before. It was actually kind of fun. As long as we don't get caught."

"Well it's not like it's too late, is it?" Draco said reassuringly.

"I guess. But still…I guess we should try and find Henri."

"Hey guys!" Henri said from behind them.

Jeni screamed and span around.

"What?" Henri asked, perplexed.

"Gods, Henri. What'd you have to do that for?"

Henri was confused.

Draco was amused. "Speak of the devil."

"What?" Henri asked again.

"Never mind."

"Oh. Well, anyway, I was looking for you guys everywhere! I figured you'd be in a classroom somewhere, and I didn't think you'd go back to that charms one any time soon, so I came to try up here -"

"Wait a minute," Jeni interrupted, "Why not 'that charms one'?"

Henri laughed.

Draco looked at the ceiling. Jeni would have sworn he was blushing slightly.

"Well?" she asked again, growing inpatient.

"This is just what I heard," Henri began.

Draco cleared his throat as a sign to shut up.

Henri ignored him.

"But apparently after the Yule Ball, Pansy dragged him into the charms classroom and tried to jump him. Needless to say she didn't talk to him for about twenty minutes after. By then she was over it. But I think _Drakie_ here was a little shaken."

Draco was still silent.

Jeni hugged him. "You poor traumatised little -"

"Shut up," Draco gritted out.

Jeni smiled. "Then Emily's good for at least one thing. She can keep Pansy away."

Henri agreed.

Draco sighed. "Still, I don't want to see anything like that ever again." He shuddered.

"Don't worry," Henri reassured him, "I'm sure Jeni here's much better at stri-" Jeni elbowed him.

"Henri!" she exclaimed. "Were you going to say what I thought you were going to say?"

"What?" he replied innocently. "I have _no_ idea what you're talking about."

Draco shook his head, amused, as he wrapped his arm around Jeni's waist and pulled her to him. "Anyone's better than Pansy," he said, with an air of finality. "Let's go to the library."

Jeni thought she knew several girls worse than Pansy but she chose not to say anything as they headed toward the library.

* * *

"So when are you going to start training your team twenty-four – seven?" Jeni asked Draco when they were all comfortably seated in some chairs near a fire in the library.

"Probably tomorrow," he replied, "I want to get ahead of Potter, after all."

Jeni rolled her eyes, and settled herself back against him.

"I want to prove to you that I can beat him," he said, hugging her tightly.

"That's sweet," Henri put in.

"Yeah," Jeni agreed, twisting back around to kiss his cheek. Draco quickly turned his head so that she kissed his lips instead. She giggled and slapped the arm that was across her stomach playfully.

"Okay," Henri said, beginning to stand, "If you two are getting like this then I'm off."

"No, no, it's alright, stay," Jeni insisted. "Who do you think will win, Henri?"

He sat again. "It's hard to say. Of course I'd love for Slytherin to win, but we haven't beaten Gryffindor once except for that time last year when Potter was sick and couldn't play. Ginny Weasley was quite a terrible seeker – it was a wonder she didn't fall off the broom. But…I don't know. You've both got a few new players, but it's really quite even." He grinned. "Just have to wait and see on the day, won't we?"

"Hardly," Draco drawled. "Slytherin _will_ win. We _are_ the best."

"But you can't be sure," Jeni said. "There's always a chance -"

"Every great man has a great woman behind him," Draco interrupted. "I've got the great woman part, but Potter sure doesn't," he said with conviction.

"Can't exactly be sure of that either, can you?" Jeni teased. "What about Hermione Granger? Or have you been stalking them?" She smiled at him slyly.

"I most certainly have not!" Draco said. "But if they are, he's not exactly flaunting it."

"True."

"Anyway, my point was," Draco continued.

"You had a point?" Jeni asked incredulously.

Draco ignored her. "My point was," he repeated, "That I _will_ beat Potter."

"I thought your point was that Slytherin will beat Gryffindor?" Jeni said.

"I thought that you thought I didn't have a point?" Draco shot back.

"Answer the question."

Draco was silent.

"I'd say you have a bit of a personal vendetta with Potter. Am I right?"

Still nothing.

"_Oh my God_!" Jeni wailed, pretending to faint. "My boyfriend has a crush on a _guy_!"

"It'd make a kinky threesome, don't you think?" Draco asked, not in the least phased.

Jeni snapped back to reality. "WHAT?" she cried, earning a sharp "Shush!" from the librarian.

Draco smirked. "Just kidding."

Jeni glanced at him sidelong.

"Seriously!"

Jeni sighed, relieved. "We'd probably better go to bed. It's getting late."

"Yes, mother," Henri teased.

"Well it is!" Jeni said, defensively. "The rest of the library's empty!"

They looked around. It was.

Henri sighed. "You're right."

Jeni smirked triumphantly.

Henri laughed. "I think Draco's starting to have an effect on you," he said as they moved towards the exit of the library.

"Really?" Jeni asked.

"Really," Henri and Draco replied simultaneously.

They all laughed as they headed off to their respective common rooms.

* * *

Ok. I think this is well over due. Sorry to everyone and thanks to everyone who's stayed with this.

Keep reading!! It'll get more exciting (I hope) soon!

THANKS TO HANNAH for understanding…probably helped by us being in the same class.

Thanks to JENI BLACK for your review…wow…someone else is reading this…hope you keep reading.

Umm…just incase anyone's wondering, this WILL STAY G RATED…maybe I should make it PG…in any case, there will be no "stri-"ing, and no jumping, or anything like that.

THANKS TO MELANIE FOR BETA-ING!

K, that is enough. GO REVIEW NOW!


	19. The fight

If Only

Jeni Draco's Girl

HOORAY! Has been forever, but I'm finally writing chapter nineteen…wow…am so excited…ok, better get going!

* * *

Draco had told Jeni that he wouldn't tell her any of his plans for the "Emily + Henri" operation, as he thought it would be better if she didn't have to act. Jeni had to agree…everything would probably be given away otherwise.

So she wasn't entirely surprised when, outside the Great Hall on Tuesday before dinner, Draco put her arms around his neck and pulled her close to him, whispering quickly in her ear to just go along with it all. Jeni glanced sideways just as he kissed her ear, long enough to see Emily, along with rather a crowd of people, just standing around staring. Luckily her eyes fluttered shut around that moment, and she was able to block all that out – after all, the feeling of Draco trailing kisses across her jaw to her lips was much more interesting.

Remembering Draco's instructions to "go along with it", Jeni tightened her arms around his neck, pulling herself up onto her toes. She felt his arms tighten around her waist, almost crushing her against him. It was extremely difficult for her to avoid giggling out loud when Draco moaned against her mouth. Well, she thought, if the plan is to be a bit over the top, then I may as well have some fun…Jeni wove one hand up through Draco's hair and pulled her mouth away from his to kiss him just under his ear and then slid her hands down his chest and around his waist, hooking her thumbs into the belt loops on the back of his pants. Draco responded by cupping her face in his hands. Their eyes met, Draco smirked, and just as Jeni's eyes had closed and they were about to kiss, what she had felt was inevitable from the beginning happened.

Sharp nails dug into Jeni's arm and she was ripped roughly away from Draco, landing painfully on the cold stone floor. She looked up to see Emily standing square in front of Draco with her hands on her hips. Jeni was sure Emily was glaring at him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Draco? Making out with that slut – you don't even like her! You love _me_, remember?" Emily was saying.

"I don't have any idea where you got that impression from," Draco replied calmly. "I most certainly was never in love with you."

"What about this?" Emily demanded, indicating the necklace. "You can't send me something like this and then say you don't love me!"

Draco lent forward. "There's one little flaw with that argument, I'm afraid."

Emily looked confused. "What?" she asked.

"I didn't send you that necklace."

"But…" Emily was confused. Poor girl. "If you didn't send it, then who did?"

"Oh," Draco replied. "I have absolutely _no_ idea!" he said with a rather blatant glance at Henri, before pulling Jeni up by her hand and walking into the Great Hall with her, leaving a rather dazed Emily and a blushing Henri behind them.

"That went rather well, don't you think?" Draco asked.

"Yes," Jeni replied. "Except now my bum's really sore."

* * *

Jeni walked down the steps into the Ravenclaw commonroom after dinner to find Windcharm tapping impatiently at the window, her feathers all ruffled. Jeni hurried over to let her in.

"What are you doing here at this time?" Jeni asked. Windcharm replied by holding out a leg. "And why do you look like you've been in a fight? What did you do, tackle the bird who was going to bring this?"

Jeni took the crumpled and slightly damp letter and let the bird walk up her arm to her right shoulder.

It was from her father.

Jeni frowned. Her father _never_ wrote to her, and she barely even talked to him most of the summer holidays. Something must be wrong.

_Dear Jeni_ she read.

I hope everything is going well at school and that you are studying hard. However, there is something else that it is necessary to inform you about. Please do not be too alarmed.

_It has come to our attention that the remaining Deatheaters are forming a plan to resurrect Voldemort. Hopefully there is no threat to anyone, and we will try to keep the whole operation confidential. But because you are my daughter, it is possible that you may be in some danger. Remember to stay away from anyone connected to the suspects at school, _especially _Lucius_ _Malfoy's son. This is possibly just as important a situation as when Voldemort was still alive._

_Take care and remember to burn this letter._

_Love,_

_Dad._

Jeni let out the breath she'd been holding. There was a _huge_ downside to having an Auror for a father.

Besides, Draco wouldn't do anything to her would he? It _was_ true that he had fantastic control of his emotions, but that didn't mean that it was all a lie … did it?

But how could she ask him about it?

What if he really was involved?

How safe was she?

Gods, she was fraternising with the enemy. He was _still_ a Deatheater's son. She couldn't believe she'd practically forgotten about all that.

Jeni shook her head hard. Windcharm hooted angrily as she tightened her grip on Jeni's shoulder to keep from falling off, her claws digging in painfully.

"Sorry," Jeni said, holding up her left arm so Windcharm could step onto her wrist. "Oh, Windcharm," Jeni sighed. "What am I going to do? _Do you_ think I can trust Draco?"

Windcharm hooted softly in reply.

"I wish you could talk. Animals always seem to know who's good and who isn't. I didn't really mean what I said before about Draco being evil, but maybe it's true. If Char was here, she'd know what to do…no, she wouldn't actually," Jeni said, remembering that Char hated Draco avidly. "I guess there's nothing for it. I can't just do nothing. I'm going to have to do something… so I guess we'd better go and find Draco then."

Windcharm hooted what Jeni assumed to be a yes. Jeni folded the letter and, clutching it tightly in her hand, she stood and left the commonroom. She was barely ten steps down the corridor when the last person on Earth that Jeni wanted to see right then came around the corner.

Emily.

Windcharm had flown off back up the corridor before Jeni even noticed. Emily didn't appear to either.

"What do you want?" Jeni asked, finding herself backed up against the wall.

Emily didn't answer, didn't react in anyway that would have indicated that she'd heard. She just raised her right arm, pointing her wand straight at Jeni's chest, and said coldly, "_Petrificus totalus_."

Jeni's arms snapped to her sides and her legs locked together. She swayed slightly before keeling over and landing flat on her back.

Emily stood over her, looking almost amused as Jeni struggled to speak or even move. "Don't waste your energy. You can't do anything," she said in the same icy voice as before, her wand aimed at a point somewhere between Jeni's eyes. "I'm going to hex you so badly I doubt your own mother would recognise you."

This hurt more that Emily realised.

Emily sighed. "But sacrifices must be made I suppose." She laughed almost maniacally. "If you could call it a sacrifice. After all, I don't really think anyone would care if you just… _disappeared_."

Jeni wondered how Henri could _possibly_ like this girl.

"Still, that's enough chitchat." Emily tightened her grip on her wand. "I guess this is goodbye. Draco _will_ be mine now, no matter if he sent me the necklace or not."

Jeni shut her eyes, not wanting to see what was going to happen.

Although her eyes were shut, she was still able to tell that there was a flash of light, and then silence.

She tentatively opened one eye to see Draco leaning over her. She tried to speak but couldn't – Draco, realising her predicament, tapped her forehead, and she felt her jaw move slightly. More of that wandless magic, although her arms and legs were still stuck.

"Draco!" Jeni cried, relieved she could speak and was still alive. "What happened? Where's Emily?"

Draco didn't answer either of these questions, instead he levitated her into the nearest classroom, lowering her gently back onto the floor, and carefully slipping the letter from where it was clutched in her hand. Windcharm chose that moment to glide gracefully through the door, landing on Jeni's chest.

Jeni looked back up from the owl to see Draco perusing the letter. "Quite true," he murmured to himself, the first words he'd spoken since he'd appeared.

"What is?" Jeni asked, desperate for Draco to further acknowledge her existence, and prove he could be trusted.

Draco sighed. "It's true that the Deatheaters are planning to resurrect Voldemort. You see," he began to explain as he seated himself beside Jeni, "I have also recently received a letter. My father wants to initiate me, at a ball on my eighteenth birthday. Purebloods only and all that." He shook his head in frustration. "I have to take someone, you know, a date."

"Who are you going to take?" Jeni asked curiously.

Draco stared at her. "You're not serious! You, of course."

"But I can't go! I'm not pureblood!" Jeni objected. "And could you let me out of this? I can't feel my feet anymore." Draco did so, and Jeni sat up and tried to rub the feeling back into her feet.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "Of course you're a pureblood. How can you not be?"

"Oh, I don't know." Jeni was getting frustrated. "Maybe because my mother was a muggle. She left me with my father as soon as she could, after she found out he was a wizard. I think she thought he was a bit loony, or something."

"So that's why you know about all these muggle things then?"

"Yeah. Dad thought it was important for me to know about I guess, he said it was a part of who I am. He did muggle studies when he was here, so he knows about all those kinds of things."

"Ah," Draco replied. He looked a bit like he knew something that he wasn't telling. "Why's your dad so important that he know about all this and is warning you that you're in danger because you're his daughter?"

"Well…" Jeni paused. "The simple answer is that he's an Auror, one of the best one's in the ministry. There's some other stuff, but it's a bit complicated…long story. I don't really know if I should tell you this…"

"Come on," Draco asked her. "Might turn out to be something I already knew, anyway."

"I suppose so," Jeni replied thoughtfully. "Alright. Well, like I already told you, dad's an Auror. Before we were born, when Voldemort was in power for the first time, my dad caught your father, along with some others, when they were out doing…well… deatheatery stuff I suppose. Neither of them were alone, and there was a bit of a fight until it was down to just our fathers. Dad managed to knock Lucius out, and they took him to court, for murder and unforgivable curses and all those other horrible things he'd been doing. But somehow, he got off. I guess there were a lot of corrupt people in the jury at the time, no one knew who they could trust. And dad's still got this personal thing going. He's determined to catch Lucius for something and put him in Azkaban, and I guess he thinks this resurrection thing will be a good time. Do you know when it's going to be?"

Draco had been silent all this time, and looked to be in deep thought. He glanced up now. "I think it might be part of the initiation," he said. "You are going to come to the ball, aren't you?"

"Draco, I can't!" Jeni replied. "That's way too dangerous! What if your father knew who I was? And there's no way dad'll ever let me go, anyway."

"You can just tell him that you're staying with Henri for a week or so. Of course, you won't be, since Henri's coming to the ball."

"Besides," Jeni said, running out of arguments, "I'm not a pureblood. Surely someone will know! If they found out they'd probably sacrifice me or something."

"No one will know. It's not like it's written on your forehead in non-erasable ink," Draco replied. "And you'll be with me, completely exempt from scrutiny and all that."

"I just can't!" Jeni cried, standing quickly. "I don't know if you can understand this, as I don't think Malfoys seem to have any morals, but I can't betray my family and who I am like that, and go to some anti-muggle-deartheater's ball, even if it IS your eighteenth birthday. I'm sorry, Draco, but I can't." She took her letter back from him and walked out of the classroom, back to her commonroom to burn the letter and cry herself to sleep.

* * *

And HOORAY! That's it…possibly my longest chapter ever. 2306 words…about. I did think 12 pages would be more than that, but anyway.

If you managed to get through all that, CONGRATS!

Thanks to MELANIE, my wonderfully beautiful beta, HANNAH for encouragement, EMMA for your review (thanks! -)

I know the bit at the beginning was possibly a bit…unwanted…let me know what you think. And remember, it was meant to be stupid and over the top and all that. I myself find it quite amusing.


	20. Quidditch and secrets

If Only

By Jeni Draco's Girl

Jeez…well, I'm not sure when the last chapter was up, but I hope someone's actually been wanting to read this…have been missing moonstorm's reviews, he's missed the last few chapters. So here we go…to recap, Jeni's had a fight with Draco, Emily knows the necklace isn't from Draco, and there's going to be a ball for Draco's 18th birthday and initiation into Deatheaterness. Whatever will happen next?

-----break----------

It was almost a week after Jeni's fight with Draco and she still hadn't talked to him. Not that _he_ hadn't tried, of course, but she just couldn't stand it. Henri had attempted to reason with her, but she wouldn't have it.

"Why can't you just listen to him, give him an opportunity to explain himself? That's all he really wants," Henri pleaded.

"Henri, please!" Jeni replied. "I don't want to have anything more to do with him. I shouldn't have gotten involved in the first place. He's the most insensitive, uncaring…" she trailed off. Henri tried not to smirk. He knew she didn't really feel like that. "He doesn't even care that my mother is _dead_. She didn't just leave me and my father – she was killed by _his_ kind just days later," Jeni said, venomously. "And then Draco comes along, and proposes to take me into the 'lion's den', so to speak, without _any_ regard for my personal safety. You can't possibly defend him for that!"

"But Draco and I can protect you! You wouldn't be in any danger!" Henri objected.

"That's very sweet of you Henri, and no offence meant or anything, but you and Draco against fifty adult Deatheaters out for my blood? You wouldn't stand a chance!"

"Jeni, don't you think you might just be getting a little too worked up about this?" Jeni scowled at him. "I mean, you can't be sure that they're all going to kill you just because your father had a little argument with Lucius, can you? The ministry would know it was them, they'd be onto them in a flash."

"That may well be, but I really think you're underestimating the danger," Jeni rebutted. "The point of this whole thing is to resurrect Voldemort, and the first thing Malfoy will want to do once they have the power they did last time is get back at the man who almost put him in Azkaban! I'm really hoping that this whole plan will fail miserably, but if it doesn't I don't want to be around when Voldemort returns!" Jeni was getting close to tears now, she didn't know what else to say to make Henri believe her. It was all made worse by the fact that their original plan had succeeded – Emily had been so angry at Draco that she'd gone to Henri. Now, however, Jeni was wishing they'd failed, especially after what had happened when she'd gotten the letter. Emily was more evil than Jeni had previously thought; it should be her, not Draco, who was being initiated.

Henri watched Jeni as all of this was going through her head. He wasn't quite sure what was going on, he knew that she cared about Draco, but there were other things too that he knew he wasn't aware of. Hesitantly he put his arms around her as she started to cry, more, he could tell, out of frustration and anger than anything else.

Jeni felt Henri's arms close around her, she wanted to push him away but her arms weren't responding to her thoughts. She felt as though both Henri and Draco had betrayed her. Char was in a different country, and she'd never been particularly close to her father, which meant there was no one she could talk to. As she sat there sobbing in Henri's arms, she wished she could have just had a normal life: with a mother, and a father who had a boring ministry job, instead of a dangerous one.

------break---------

Draco and Henri were at quite a loss as to what to do. It was just three days before the first Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor versus Slytherin, and Jeni still refused to have anything to do with either of them. They didn't have much of an idea what was going on in her head.

"I think we're going to have to come to the conclusion that this is a girl thing, and we're never going to understand it," Henri said morosely.

"Maybe you're right," Draco replied in much the same tone. "I just don't know what it could all be about. I know she's upset with me for something, but what?"

"She obviously genuinely believes that her mother is dead. I know you tried to tell her otherwise, but there's not much use. It's all she's known for sixteen years, maybe she just doesn't want to imagine that her mother could be alive and not come back for her. Because then it would seem that she didn't love her, and if her mother doesn't love her, she may as well be dead."

"I just wish there was some other way," Draco growled.

"You know there isn't. She has to come to the ball, that's all there is to it. Once we convince her of that, the rest will take care of itself." At least, Henri hoped it would.

"And that's all we can do?" Draco asked, already knowing the answer.

"That's all we can do."

---------break---------

The day of the Quidditch match, Saturday, dawned clear and bright, although it wouldn't have made much difference to Draco if it'd been grey and raining. It was now almost two weeks since the fight, two weeks since Jeni had last spoken to Draco, since he'd been able to kiss her… Now everything was darkness, days and nights dragged on and he didn't think he could stand it much longer. The thought of never holding her again, never seeing her smile at him or hearing her laugh was almost enough to make him want to just end everything now. Only two things stopped him from doing just that – hope, that she would forgive him, and the promise he had made back in August, before the start of his seventh year. He could never break that promise, although bringing her to the ball might result in him doing just that.

A few hours later, Draco stood outside the changing rooms, waiting for Henri. He finally saw him in the crowd of students surging across the grass to the quidditch pitch.

"I haven't seen her," Henri said when he finally managed to make his way over to Draco.

Draco swore. "Why does she have to be so God-damned immature!" he demanded.

"I think it's you who's being immature," Henri muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing. Look, she's perfectly within her rights not to come and watch, especially since her house isn't playing," Henri said, trying to calm Draco down.

"That may be, but I'm playing, and I want her to be here." Draco was obviously agitated.

"Alright! I'll go and find her. Just calm down a little, okay? You need to get the Snitch before Potter, after all." Henri turned and made his way back towards the castle.

Draco scowled. "Don't remind me," he grumbled.

Henri performed a quick locating charm which told him that Jeni was in the library. Maybe she wanted to be found, he thought to himself, otherwise she would have shut herself in her dorm where neither he nor Draco could talk to her.

Just half a minute later Henri entered the library, having sprinted from the entrance hall up two flights of stairs and down the corridor. He could see her sitting at a desk, completely alone, near a window from which she could see the Quidditch pitch. He smiled to himself. Perhaps she did want to come. He walked over and stood behind her.

"Look," she said without turning around. "I'm perfectly comfortable here, thank you very much, and I don't intend to return to my commonroom, so could you just-" Jeni turned around and saw who she was talking to. "Oh! Henri! – um, what did you want? You're not going to try and talk me into talking to Draco again, are you?" she asked, slightly flustered.

"No, not exactly," Henri replied. "Just try and talk you into coming to see the match. It would mean a lot to Draco if you-"

"No, Henri," Jeni said, cutting him off. "I can't come. Besides, I can see from here, I don't need to come out."

"But just think how much better you could see from out there!" Henri reasoned. "And you don't have any real reason to stay here – you can at least show that you've moved on. If you keep avoiding Draco like the plague, he's going to keep up hope that you miss him." Jeni stared at him. "Or something…I don't know. I just think you'd have more fun if you came out and enjoyed the game and got caught up in the atmosphere and all that. Help you forget about all this if that's what you want. We just want you to be happy, Jen."

"Well," Jeni wavered. "If you want me to come that much…"

"Great!" Henri replied. "Let's go. The game's probably started already, but unless Potter manages to get the snitch within five seconds, I don't think we'll have really missed anything."

"You don't think Draco could catch it this soon?" Jeni asked, still defensive. Henri smirked to himself. He did think Draco could do it, but he also thought that he'd be waiting for Jeni to see it - not that he told her this.

"Um," he replied, "It's just unlikely, you know, statistically and all that."

"Oh. I guess so. But that would also mean there's no chance of Slytherin winning, since I don't think they've ever beaten Gryffindor," Jeni said as they left the library. "So I think I'll just go back to doing what I was doing before, and watch the game from inside-" She turned back.

"No you don't!" Henri cried, seizing her by the arm. Jeni stared at him with alarm. "I mean, well, you should stick to your decisions. Come on, we're going out there."

Jeni was starting to think by now that there was something just a little bit wrong with Henri. Maybe Emily was really getting to him; she was possibly just a bit much for the guy to take on. Still, she sighed and followed him down the hall, outside and around the corner out to the pitch. They two teams were already up and flying, speeding through the air from one end to the other, constantly changing direction as the chasers fought over possession.

She could see Potter and Draco circling above the other players as Henri dragged her up into the stands. She didn't even notice that she was surrounded by Slytherins. Jeni couldn't believe that she had been prepared to watch this game from indoors. She had entirely forgotten the excitement of being at a match, feeling the wind as the players tore past, being deafened by all the screaming supporters.

Jeni was so caught up in the atmosphere that she didn't even notice that Draco had stopped in mid-air not far from her until Henri nudged her. He just sat there, staring pensively at her, until their eyes met and he zoomed off again. How rude, Jeni thought, ignoring the fact that she was suppose to be not talking to him and that he was in the middle of a Quidditch match. But all was forgiven when her stomach dropped as she saw both Potter and Draco simultaneously feint towards the ground. The whole crowd gasped as they raced, neck and neck, toward the Snitch which was hovering, almost cowering it seemed, at the base of a goal post. And then it wasn't. Both of the seekers pulled up, just feet off the ground, glancing around confusedly. It had been there only a second ago, so it couldn't have gone far. But the snitch wasn't reappearing, at least not for now, and so everyone's attention returned to the rest of the game, to find that Slytherin had just scored, again. Jeni could see Weasley shaking his fist at the Slytherin chaser, screaming that it was a foul. Madam Hooch, however, decided it hadn't been, and the game continued.

The score was Gryffindor on twenty to Slytherin on sixty, but no one was panicking yet. Most people had complete confidence in Potter catching the snitch, and the game had only been going ten minutes. Suddenly, Jeni saw it. The snitch was hovering right in front of the Slytherin stands. A few other people began to see it too, and started calling out to Draco. He finally noticed the huge ruckus going on in and saw the gold shimmer in the air. Unfortunately, Potter did too. They both turned sharply from their previous routes and shot over towards the spectators. Jeni realised all too late that they were flying straight at her. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see.

Potter pulled up before Draco did, because, as Henri later said, of his goody-goody conscience, he must have been scared of hurting someone. But Draco didn't have those kinds of inhibitions – he grabbed the snitch and screeched to a halt just inches before Jeni's face, almost kicking the guy sitting in front of her in the head.

"Hi there," Draco said.

Jeni opened her eyes stood up when Henri pushed her. She was understandably more than a little disconcerted. "Hey," she returned warily.

Draco just smirked. Then, in one smooth motion, he flew forward slightly, seized her round the waist and pulled her up onto the broom in front of him before turning and flying down to Madam Hooch to return the snitch.

Jeni was too surprised to even squeak.

"So," Draco said, almost nervously, as he turned away from the pitch. "How've you been these last two weeks?"

"Shouldn't you be back down there celebrating?" Jeni asked, ignoring Draco's question and temporarily forgetting that she wasn't talking to him.

"That's not important right now. You're what's important right now. We need to sort this out."

"Sort _what_ out?" Jeni demanded as they flew through the window into the astronomy tower. Jeni remembered briefly the last time they'd been here. "There's nothing to sort out. Whatever it was between us is over, because you can't just accept, for some strange reason, that my mother is dead. You're just as insensitive and cold as I always imagined you to be. I guess this just proves that you should stick with your first impressions. I should never have pretended that you were any different than I thought you were."

"You don't understand," Draco pleaded. "It's not like that."

"It isn't?" Jeni hissed. "Then what is it like?"

"I can't tell you," Draco said quietly.

"So there's no decent explanation for all this? What do you mean you can't tell me?" Jeni was starting to get upset.

"You're going to just have to believe me," Draco said calmly. "What reason do you have not to trust me on this?"

"What reason? How about the fact that your father's a _Deatheater_, and you're about to be initiated and become one of _them_ – one of the _things_ that killed my mother!" Jeni cried. Her sight was becoming blurry with tears now.

"I'm not one of them!" Draco growled, stepping towards her, wanting to just hold her again.

Jeni pushed him away. "No, Draco!" she told him. "No – it's just, I mean…God, I don't know anymore." She sat down heavily on a bench. "It's just that everything's different to how it was before this year, and it all seems to be because of you, and I just wanted it to go back to how it was before so I thought if you weren't around anymore then it would all be okay."

Draco cautiously sat down beside her and tentatively put his arm around her as she started to cry.

"And I don't want to think," she continued, leaning against him, "That if she is still alive like you seem to think that she wouldn't come back and see me, because that would mean she didn't love me. I don't think I could stand that!"

Wow, Draco thought. Henri was freakishly good at knowing what girls thought.

"Look," Draco said quietly. "You need to come to the ball. I can't explain everything now, because that's not my place, but I promise you'll find out everything if you come. You'll be safe – we won't let my father find out who you really are, and everything will be okay. You'll see."

Jeni lifted her head and looked him in the eye, her face streaked with tears. "Promise?"

"I promise," Draco replied.

He had only intended to give her a little kiss, as he didn't want to scare her off again, but as he leant forward to touch his lips gently against hers, she slipped her arm around his neck and pulled him forward, pressing her mouth to his almost desperately. Draco responded by wrapping his arms tightly around her and crushing her against him. He could feel her, even through his Quidditch gear, and was so glad just to be able to hold her again, kiss her again.

Jeni pulled away suddenly. "God, you stink!" she said.

"Excuse me?" Draco demanded, all delicacy forgotten. No girl had ever told him that his kissing –

"I really think you need to go and take a shower," Jeni told him.

Oh, Draco thought. Right then. He stood and offered her his hand. "Let's go then."

She stared at it for a few seconds before she took it. Draco pulled her to her feet but still held onto her hand as he picked up his broom and they left the astronomy room tower. There was no way he was letting go of her again any time soon.

"About the ball," Draco began.

"What about it?" Jeni asked, trying to sound light.

"You are coming, aren't you?" Draco said, doubtfully.

"I don't really have much choice if I want to find out what's going on, do I?" she replied rhetorically.

"No," Draco said with a smirk, glad that everything was back to normal. "You don't."

-----break---------

WOOT! Am done, finally. (I am a slow typer.)

So, what do you guys think? Hope that was interesting, please review and let me know!

Thank you to HANNAH, who is seemingly my only reader… and MELLY, my ETERNALLY WONDERFUL BETA!

So REVIEW! and HOORAY FOR FLUFF BUNNIES, aren't they just GREAT?

Oh, and finally, OMG! WHO LOVES THE 6TH BOOK! I can't believe that…and it…and everything was so…! Yes…am trying to avoid spoilers…obviously…but ! WOW!

Ok…am done…go review.


	21. Shopping and lessons

If Only

By Jeni Draco's Girl

WELL! This has been a long time coming, hasn't it? Have just realised a rather important mistake that I've made, which is all mentions being of Draco's upcoming 18th birthday, when REALLY it should be his 17th, since that's the equivalent, isn't it? So, since I am completely inept and lazy, I shall just note here that all past references should be changed accordingly, and from now on, Draco is 16 going on 17. just like in 'The Sound of Music'! But no worries, this isn't a songfic, or anything else so horrifying…

Just a quick note about foreign languages that will appear from here on – all translations (and other necessary explanations, including obscure references) will be given at the end of the chapter that it's relevant to; as I think it looks ugly and breaks the flow to include translations at the end of each sentence.

Finally, I don't think I need to say this to anyone who's gotten this far, but I recently received a very…mean review for this fanfic, and I'd like to point out that it is quite clear what this story is basically about and I'm not forcing it on anyone…it should be obvious that it's someone's choice to read this, and so by posting this on the internet I AM NOT "subjecting" anyone to my "private fantasies". I write this story because I like to, and I post because someone asks me to.

* * *

Jeni lay in bed the next morning, still half asleep, thinking about the events of the day before. Making up with Draco had been just as unexpected as Slytherin's win against Gryffindor, something that the whole school had been talking about non-stop. It still didn't feel to Jeni like she actually had agreed to go to the ball, which she maintained would put her in immense danger, but at the same time, her insatiable curiosity about whatever it was that everyone was intent on hiding from her made her determined to go and find out…hopefully, she thought, she didn't have to add 'even if it's the last thing I do!'

The day passed dreamily; it was cold enough for snow, so Jeni and Draco spent the day outside, throwing snow balls and making snow angels. Henri would have joined them if he hadn't been busy with…other things, but secretly Jeni was thankful for having some fun time alone with Draco – it was better than whatever argument they chanced having otherwise. The week went similarly; classes, meals and study, with a few brief 'meetings' in empty classrooms, and that Friday evening, she met with Draco and Henri in a small room one of them had discovered – there was a cosy fireplace and some comfy couches, one of which Jeni was sharing with Draco, snuggled up warmly against him.

"I'm surprised she finally let you get away for a moment," Jeni teased, giggling softly as Draco stroked her back.

"Now, now, Jeni," Draco said. "She's got to let him have a break _some_ time!"

"Oh stop it, you two!" Henri replied. "Besides, as if you ever keep your hands off each other." Jeni and Draco looked at each other and shrugged. "In any case," Henri continued, "that's not what we're here to discuss, is it?"

"No, professor," they chorused in reply. Jeni added, "So what do we have to talk about?"

"Well," Draco began, "I thought we'd all feel a lot more comfortable if we talked about the…event, and what our story is to respective parents."

"You mean to both of your fathers," Henri corrected, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "My parents are going to be there, remember? They're not deatheaters," he said to Jeni, who had looked up, alarmed at the news that his parents would be there. "My father feels it prudent to…play nice with both sides, if you will. No matter the outcome, he doesn't have to worry. Of course, it is pretty obvious to most people, but they don't seem to mind since he proves himself a valuable source of information – he works in foreign relations for the ministry, keeping things friendly with China. My mother's in the same department, actually, although she deals with France."

Well! Jeni thought. That explained a few things. She'd noticed from the start that Henri didn't look entirely Asian, and now she knew why. (AN: and why his name has an 'i' and not a 'y' at the end!) "I have to admit, it's a bit of a relief that they're not," she said. "Draco's father's enough of a worry for me!"

"Yes, well, I believe that's the problem," Henri continued. "Now I think our story to your father is to be that you're staying with me for a week, so that he doesn't worry – I'm sure he knows who my parents are anyway, and they're perfectly trustworthy despite my father's tendency to live a little recklessly."

"So then there's what we tell my dear father, kitten," Draco said.

"Kitten?" Jeni repeated, getting sidetracked for a moment. "Where did that come from?"

"I've decided it suits you," Draco stated confidently. "It wouldn't do for me to call you 'sweetheart' or anything else of that ridiculous ilk, and besides, your hair's so nice and soft…and the way you're snuggling into my side like that… I decided I'd take a guess at what kind of animagus you'll have."

Jeni just blinked, still shocked. She recovered, then murmured, "Well _I_ guess that _yours_ will be a ferret."

"Excuse me?" Draco asked politely, having heard exactly what she'd said.

"Nothing," Jeni chirped in reply. "Now, what were you saying about your loving father?"

"I'll have you know that I already know what my animagus form is. And it isn't a _ferret_, either," Draco said disdainfully, ignoring Jeni's previous comment.

"Really?" Henri asked.

"What is it?" Jeni demanded simultaneously, both of them having been shocked by Draco's casual revelation. "Can we see, then?"

Draco sighed, although he was clearly quite happy to have the attention. "If you must," he said. "But you'll have to get off me first," he directed at Jeni.

She moved obligingly. Draco shut his eyes and concentrated, and a few seconds later, Henri and Jeni weren't very surprised to see, sitting in his place, a rather large snow leopard. Jeni reached out tentatively to touch him, soon figuring out that, just like any normal cat, Draco liked being scratched behind his ears, which made Henri chuckle. The leopard pushed his way onto Jeni's lap and rolled over onto his back. She stroked his head and was rather shocked a second later to find herself stroking the hair of an almost purring Draco. Jeni burst out giggling almost immediately. Draco just smirked.

"I couldn't help it," he said almost defensively, but still smirking. "Technically, I may be a human, but as a cat that still feels good."

Henri just shook his head dazedly. "And here I was thinking that the whole point of becoming an animagus was to be able to sneak around, and blend in! After all, how many snow leopards are there wandering around the English countryside?"

"Oh," Jeni said disappointedly. "I thought it was so you could turn into an animal, you know, that reflects your inner personality…Besides; he'll blend in with the snow!"

"Exactly," Draco continued. "See Henri, I will blend in," he said jokingly.

Henri ignored this last comment. "In any case, when on earth did you find the time to do this?"

"I got particularly bored these last summer holidays," Draco explained, showing no signs of moving from Jeni's lap any time soon. "Spent so long holed up in my rooms avoiding father that I thought I may-as-well do something useful with my time. Not to mention I was curious, of course. I mean, who doesn't want to know what they'll be? And I had to prove to myself that I wasn't really going to turn into a _ferret_…wasn't going to tell anyone if I did, though."

Jeni laughed. "So," she said, "back to what we were talking about before, since even if I did ask you why you haven't told us all this before you wouldn't say, what are we going to tell your father?"

"Actually, despite what you think, I can tell you. It takes an awful lot of practise to get the hang of changing without having to meditate or any of that, and to manage to come back with clothes on. I wasn't about to risk telling you both and having you demand to see, and then accidentally change back naked." Henri laughed at the look of mock disappointment on Jeni's face. "Now, like you said, back to the topic. All we have to do is change your surname, and come up with some sort of family background for you. What your parents do, where they live, all that. I've already come up with a name which I thought suited."

From Draco's tone of voice, it didn't sound good. Jeni looked worried.

"What?" Draco asked. "I had to come up with something that doesn't exist, so that no one can associate it with anything. So for one week, you will be known as Miss Jeni Starre. It's simple, and close in theme to 'McNite', so you shouldn't forget it. It just wouldn't do for you to forget that you were supposed to have a different name. Besides, if it _is_ a bit silly, then that should help you remember it."

"Right," Jeni said. "But how am I meant to pretend that I have a mother?"

"Not that it's likely to come up often in conversation, but it's easier if you're just able to give simple answers to what your parents do for a living, rather than explain that one's dead, isn't it?" Draco reasoned.

"I guess so," Jeni agreed. "But what do they do?"

"It would have to be something that my father's not connected to, which cuts out anything to do with the ministry, foreign affairs or trade and major businesses. Yet, at the same time, it has to be something that indicates you to be well-off and dignified enough for him and his friends to approve of me having brought you. I know your dad's an auror, but is there possibly anything else he ever wanted to be?"

"I don't know, really. What about if he was a healer or something? Is that _prestigious_ enough?" Jeni asked.

"Actually, that might just do," Draco said. "We can make it that you live in a small wizarding town somewhere, and your parents own their own medical clinic there. It's small enough that he shouldn't know of it or be curious, but enough for you to come from a _decent background_," he said, rather in the same tone that she had before, as though mocking his father's aristocratic standards.

"Somewhere by the sea!" Jeni added. "I always wanted to live there!"

Draco smiled indulgingly. "Anywhere you want, kitten," he said teasingly.

"I'll think of somewhere then," she replied.

"Is that everything settled for now?" Henri asked, looking fidgety.

"Why?" Draco asked, acting oblivious. "Do you have somewhere to be?"

Henri looked even more uncomfortable.

"Go on then," Draco said, sitting up. "I think everything involving you has been covered." He slipped an arm around Jeni's shoulders, and then as soon as Henri had left, Draco shifted around to kiss her.

His lips had almost touched hers when Jeni said, "Draco?"

"Hmm?" he replied, sounding just a little frustrated.

"Um…"Jeni continued.

Draco lent back again. "What is it?" he asked, his hand resting just under her ear and his thumb gently stroking her soft cheek. "Is something wrong?"

"Well," Jeni said, peering up at him worriedly, "what do I wear to the ball?"

Draco laughed. "Gods," he said, "girls get so worked up about clothes!" Seeing that she didn't look any calmer, he added, "Don't worry. There's a Hogsmeade weekend soon, I'll buy you a dress then."

"You'll…but…you can't…" Jeni had to admit, she was very shocked by Draco's casual statement.

"Your father would find out somehow if you bought one yourself, wouldn't he?" Draco covered. He got the impression that Jeni was rather uncomfortable with the idea. Still, he hardly thought that she could afford it herself. "I'd have to at least come with you, since I'm guessing you are…unsure of the situation, am I right?"

Jeni nodded.

"Then it's settled. I think it's…tomorrow, isn't it?" he asked, considering the date briefly.

"Oh!" Jeni said. "That's very soon!"

"Yes," Draco agreed. "And, this might sound strange, but in 'our world'," the way he said it, there were almost visible quotation marks, "people dress formally to go formal dress shopping. Think of that as a warning, of sorts." Jeni was looking concernedly at his tie. "Don't worry so much!" Draco said comfortingly. "Remember," he added with a smirk, tilting her chin up with a finger, "you'll be with me!"

Jeni giggled. "Oh, come here," she said, slipping her hand up to his neck and pulling his lips finally down to hers.

* * *

Despite how much Draco had tried to play down what he'd said to her the night before, Jeni still took extreme care in dressing herself for Hogsmeade the next morning, after breakfast. Black, she thought, was probably safest, even though people always said young girls shouldn't wear black. Still, she reasoned, she was sixteen, and that was _plenty_ old enough. She was very glad though, that she had packed a few nice items of clothing, without really giving thought to whether she'd have the opportunity to wear them. She cast quick pressing spells on a knee-length black suede skirt that she's bought on a trip to London once with Char, and a silvery-grey blouse. She added a tight forest green vest with a low-ish v-neck, and black pantyhose and heels. Then after waving her wand in the general direction of her head to de-frizz her hair, slipping on some silver jewellery and grabbing her formal black cloak, she was out the door and hurrying down to meet Draco in the entrance hall.

She found him waiting around the corner at the bottom of the staircase glaring sinisterly in the direction of a group of giggling Hufflepuff girls, dressed entirely in black and with his hair all slicked back.

Jeni frowned. "Do you _have _to do it that way?"

Draco's attention snapped to her, and she felt his stormy eyes burn into hers. He moved forward and slipped his hands under her cloak, resting them around her waist, and dropping a quick kiss on her lips, his gaze softening. "That's the greeting I get?" he asked, pulling her close. "No, 'Hello, Draco,' just, 'What the hell have you done to your hair?'"

"I didn't phrase it _quite_ that way," Jeni muttered.

"Well I, for one, shall begin correctly." He cleared his voice, then bent down so that his mouth was just by her ear. "Good morning, kitten," he said, in fact, almost purred, softly. "I notice you're wearing my favourite colours today." Jeni could as-good-as feel his smirk. She was glad they were standing in the shadows, out of the way of the other students, as she was starting to feel a little flustered. Especially since Draco had just run his hand gently down the side of her leg. "I think I'll have to investigate this skirt of yours further when we return," he continued, his breath tickling her neck. "And," he added, his hand returning to her waist where the bottom of her top peeked out from under her vest, "this blouse."

Jeni breathing had become very shallow, and she was beginning to feel rather like a small animal being toyed with by a predator. She decided then and there that in the future, she should be more careful about wearing things that felt as nice as satin or suede.

"But for now," Draco said, moving his head back to rest his forehead against hers, "I shall have to content myself with this," – he kissed her lingeringly – "as it would appear that we're leaving now." He stepped back, sliding his hands out of her cloak and taking her left one in his right. They joined the queue that was forming to get their names marked off. Jeni could feel her cheeks still burning from what Draco had said.

Once they had left the hall and were on their way, with sufficient space between them and any other students, Draco addressed her again.

"There are a few things, kitten, that you need to know before we go into any shops," he said.

"Like what?" Jeni asked, confused.

"Well, they are things that will apply also when we're at the manor, so today is almost like a test run." He paused to make sure Jeni was following along alright, and then continued. "Firstly, and this is the point from which everything else stems, the world which you are about to enter is extremely chauvinistic."

Jeni didn't like the sound of where this was going.

"I know you're not going to like this, but this generally means that I speak for you. Do you understand?"

Jeni sighed, feeling any independence she may have had slipping away from her. "I think so," she responded.

"Don't be too upset," Draco consoled her. "It makes things easier for you really. Although I do understand that it's hard not to have your own opinion."

"I don't have any opinions? Then what's the purpose of today?" Jeni demanded, feeling a little insulted, though by what she wasn't sure.

"Practise, like I said, and also…there's a slight agenda to this, I must admit. This might be something you'll find easier to accept."

"What's that, then?"

"I need to be seen with you," Draco said, then went on to explain: "Some of the people you will meet today, the shop owners, that is, are people who report to my father, on anything they observe. Thus, our being together is normal as preceding my taking you to the ball. This does bring me to another point, which is how you need to begin acting."

Jeni riled at the suggestion that there was anything wrong with the way she acted.

"Not that there's anything wrong with it for when we are normally together; but, like I said, in my father's circle, women are generally…inferior. There is this, and also the fact that you will need to conduct yourself more aristocratically. Don't worry about all this for today though. Henri and I will give you lessons before the holidays, so by then you'll be fine. For now, just speak as infrequently as is suitable, and always maintain a gentle tone; avoid speaking to anyone except me unless you are directly addressed, and in these cases do not give them any title or name, thus implying that they are socially below you; remember what I said about how my opinion is your opinion; and keep your chin up and your back straight."

Jeni wondered to herself just how she was supposed to remember the long list that Draco had just recited very quickly. And just what did 'as infrequently as is suitable' mean?

"Oh," Draco added, "one more. No thankyous, pleases, or saying things are pretty, like I know you will want to. Remember, use the minimum of words that you require, and most often it is appropriate to say nothing at all."

"Right," Jeni replied, sounding slightly dazed.

"Don't worry," Draco said. "It'll be fine. Now, are you ready?"

"Ready for what?" Jeni asked.

"Well we've been standing outside this shop for almost five minutes while I finished explaining."

Jeni finally noticed the very expensive looking dress shop they were standing in front of. "Ah," she finally managed to say.

Draco smirked, and Jeni saw his face return to how it always had been to her before she'd known him: cold and _entirely_ unreadable. He held open the door for her, and motioned her inside.

* * *

The shop was very large, with dark marble floors, a high ceiling, and many paintings and mirrors in gilt frames. Jeni tried to do as Draco had told her and not act at all in awe of her surroundings. However, she couldn't help but notice a conspicuous lack of dresses in the shop. Her gaze settled on a man working at a large ornately carved oak desk in a back corner of the shop. He looked to be in his fifties, and was wearing neat dark grey robes. A few seconds after they entered, he looked up, and, seeing Draco glancing around expectantly, his eyes widened as he rushed across the room, stopping to bow deeply in front of Draco (he seemed just short of throwing himself at his feet, Jeni thought).

"Master Malfoy!" he exclaimed. "How are you? What can I help you with?"

Draco then said just one thing which demonstrated what he'd said before about social ranking. "This is Miss Starre," he drawled, ignoring the man's first question and not giving any indication of who he was. Jeni decided that the whole thing was not only old fashioned and stupid, but utterly useless. Although, maybe Draco was just helping her not to address the man by any title, since he didn't have one now. "And what you may help us with," he continued, speaking as though the man was a very slow child, "is her dress for my father's ball this Christmas."

"Of _course_, young master," the man said, sounding thrilled at the task. This whole set up was starting to make Jeni feel a little ill. "What were you after?" he enquired, not even having glanced at Jeni this whole time. There wasn't any point, she figured, since she wasn't allowed to speak.

"Something simple, elegant," Draco was saying, sounding deliberately vague, as though he was trying to make it hard for the poor man. "The colour of her eyes, I was thinking."

"Very good, sir," the man replied. "Would the young lady be so kind as to step up here?" he said, indicating a small island-like platform that had appeared near one of the huge mirrors to their left. He offered her his hand to help her up. Jeni didn't feel it necessary, but she took it anyway. She stood, slightly nervously, with her arms held out from her sides – having passed her cloak to the man who'd hung it near the door – as a tape-measure appeared and started whizzing all over her body, measuring things she wouldn't have even thought one needed to know. Once the tape had finished measuring everything from the usual things like her waist and height, to the circumference around each of her fingers, it disappeared, and Jeni lowered her arms, feeling rather idiotic.

She continued to stand there, clutching her hands in front of her and picking nervously at a fingernail, starting to understand the 'inferiority of women' part of what Draco had said, as the two males went across to the desk, where the man took out a sketch book and started to consult Draco on the finer details of what _he_ wanted. Jeni could only hear snippets of what they were saying, things like "strapless", "silk" and "beading"; which only served to make her more nervous and uncomfortable than before. Still, she thought, Draco was…well…Draco, so she did trust him to know what suited her. She sighed. It seemed she was already becoming used to this chauvinistic, hierarchical society.

After a few minutes, Draco turned and walked back over to her, whilst the man went out through a back door she hadn't even noticed before.

"So?" she asked, as soon as he'd gone.

He smiled softly at her. "_So_," he said, "I hope you like it."

Draco's face turned blank again, as the man returned carrying a stunning blue-grey dress. He conjured up a stand next to Jeni which he hung the dress on, before magicking up curtains around her.

Jeni presumed this was an indication that she should change. She managed to get the dress on – no mean feat – and as soon as she had it close to right, the dress arranged itself, and zipped itself up, the zip vanishing before she knew what had happened. Well! Jeni thought. None of my clothing has ever done _that_ before! She barely had a moment to compose herself before the curtains vanished, and just as she opened her mouth, she saw Draco give her a warning look, to stop her speaking as she'd intended to. Jeni sighed internally. It was harder than she'd thought not to speak at all! Instead, she turned around to examine herself properly in the mirror.

Jeni fell in love with the dress immediately – partly for the way that it made her look, clinching in her waist and actually giving her cleavage (Jeni cheered inwardly), something that she'd never had before; but also for the way that it was a princess dress, pure and simple. She pushed herself up to stand on her toes more, imagining she was wearing high heels, and ran her hands over the huge skirts which dropped almost straight down the front, and were fuller around the sides and back. Jeni turned from side to side, making the skirts swish gently around her legs.

It had to be the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.

She turned around and looked into Draco's eyes. Since she shouldn't talk, and he could always read her expression…Luckily he took the cue immediately.

"I'll take it," he said blandly to the man. "Send it on to the manor."

"Yes, at once, sir," the man replied, obviously trying to control himself but clearly happy.

The curtains reappeared around Jeni, and as she reached back for it, so did the zip. Brilliant, she thought, almost sarcastically. My dress zip is psychic. She hurriedly changed, the curtains disappearing as before just after she was done and had rehung the dress on the stand. She tucked her hair neatly behind one ear as she accepted the man's hand to step off the platform. Then, without a second glance back, as she felt was appropriate, she walked over to where Draco was standing near the door, let him help her put her cloak on, and stepped out into the cold when he opened the door.

Draco led Jeni a little way down the street before turning into a small space between two shops. Pulling her close against him, he cupped her face gently.

"Well done," he whispered, before placing a lingering kiss on her lips. Jeni settled into the embrace, and sighed. Dresses and kisses – what girl could ask for more? Little did she know, however, that the shopping had only just begun.

* * *

"Now," Draco said, as they continued down the street, "the serious shopping begins."

"The serious shopping?" Jeni asked. "But…I thought we only came for the dress."

"In that case, let me ask you something. What were you planning on wearing for the week you will be spending at my house? Not to mention the dinners each night, and whatever other events father may care to throw at us."

"Oh," Jeni said, shortly.

"Exactly. So now we are looking for evening dresses."

"How many do I need?" Jeni asked, feeling the worry build up in her chest, just like the previous night. "Surely one or two…"

"Six," Draco answered bluntly.

"SIX!" Jeni cried.

"You will be there for seven nights, one of which is the ball, on Christmas Eve," Draco explained. "Therefore, you'll need one for each other night. Six."

"Gods," Jeni replied.

"One of which," Draco continued, not in the least but phased by Jeni reaction, "will be particularly nice, for Christmas Day. It's traditional for women to wear red or green. I was thinking green, since red isn't really your colour."

Jeni didn't take any offence, since this was something she already knew quite well.

"I'm guessing I can't talk in this store either," she said glumly.

"There's…a little more freedom here," Draco replied, "since…well, you'll see."

He opened the door they had stopped in front of for her, and she stepped inside, noticing straight away what he had meant. There were actually _dresses_ in this shop. Racks upon racks of them lined the walls. Draco took her cloak from her.

"Go on," he said. "Have a look around."

Jeni did so immediately, although she managed to remember to hold herself correctly, back straight and all that. This was a lot more like…normal shopping, she thought. She was able to actually walk around and _choose_. She soon realised that there was a small clothing rack following her around like a puppy. How convenient, she thought, hanging the dresses she'd chosen on it.

Once she'd completed a tour of the store she'd collected about ten dresses, all in colours she hoped would suit her. There were a couple in green, one emerald, and one forest, which could be apt for Christmas. When she was done she looked around, finally spotting Draco talking to a young shop assistant. She made her way over to them, the dresses following along, and was led without words by the girl to a very spacious fitting room. Jeni opened her mouth to say thank you, then thought better of it.

There were three dresses which Jeni discovered didn't suit, as soon as she put them on. The other seven, though, were wonderful. But there were the two green ones, and Jeni decided she only needed one. After a short consultation with Draco, the dark forest green one was selected, and they left the shop, just as before.

"Now then," Draco said.

"There's more?" Jeni theatrically exclaimed despite herself.

"Seven days worth of day wear. And pyjamas," he added as an afterthought.

"Pyjamas?" Jeni asked suspiciously. "Why does is matter what _pyjamas_ I wear?"

Draco smirked. "Well, I thought that you and Henri and I could have…what _is_ it that you girls call it…ah!" he realised. "Slumber parties."

"Really?" Jeni cried happily. "Pillow fights!" She punched the air.

Many people stopped in the street to see what the commotion was. Jeni froze; arm still raised, then tried to hide behind Draco. "Oh, come on," he sighed, pulling her off down the street. "You know, I think this whole pyjama thing is something I'll do by my self, after that little outburst."

Jeni pouted. She liked pyjamas very much. "Just keep it decent, alright?"

"Of course," Draco replied, smirking slightly.

Jeni tried to ignore him.

"In this next shop, I don't think they know me too well, so feel free to act normally," Draco told her.

"Hoorah," Jeni said, with more than little sarcasm as they stepped inside.

Once more, Jeni was graced with the joyful sight of actual _clothes _in an actual _clothing shop_. That first place was just stupid, she decided. Whilst Draco had told her that this place was more casual, the general tone of the store was still conservatively aristocratic. However, no one even looked up when they entered, let alone tried to throw themselves on the floor to kiss Draco's shoes, so Jeni decided she rather liked this shop.

They were able to look around together this time, with another handy puppy-stand, as Jeni had previously christened them. They chose various tops, jackets, jumpers and skirts ("No pants," Draco told her) and Jeni was able to make her own way to a changing room. Draco decided it was necessary for him to pop his head in to check each outfit for himself, and in this way seven sets were decided upon. Most were sent to the manor, with one lot sent to Henri's house. Jeni wondered what Henri's house was like. They would be going to Draco's via Henri's, so she hoped she would get a good look then.

"Are we done now?" Jeni asked, as they left the third store.

"Almost," Draco replied. "I'm going to leave you just down here, and go pyjama shopping," he said with a wink.

"Just down where?"

"Here." They stopped outside what appeared to be a lingerie boutique.

"Eh…" Jeni said.

"I trust you can manage this yourself?" Draco asked jokingly. "Take this," he added, holding out what looked like a business card.

"Why do you have one of these?" Jeni asked.

"For situations such as this, of course," Draco replied.

"Oh? Send many girls to lingerie stores, do you?"

"Well, fine, not situations _exactly_ like this," he amended. "But you know what I mean."

"Not a clue," Jeni said.

Draco ignored her. "Give this to the lady when you go in. I'll be waiting outside when you're finished."

"Right," Jeni said defeatedly, finally taking the card. "I'll see you back out here then." She took a deep breath and entered the store as Draco turned back up the street.

* * *

A bell tinkled gently as Jeni entered, and was greeted by the sight of the most bras she's ever seen in one place at once.

"Oh my…" she breathed.

"Good morning, young lady," chirped a middle-aged woman at Jeni's side, causing her to start. "What may I help you with?"

"Oh! I…um…" Jeni gave up on explaining immediately and simply handed the woman the card Draco had given her.

"Ah," said the woman pleasantly. "Miss Starre. We've been expecting you."

Oh _really_, Jeni thought. It would appear Draco organised today much more than she had originally thought.

"Now, let's see," the woman continued, leading her around the shop. "You look to be around a size ten, so you can try this one, and this one, and this one…not that…this might do though…" She continued like this for quite some time, until it appeared there was a mountain of various things for Jeni to try on.

"In here, dear." Jeni found herself steered into a changing room. "Now when you have each one on, call me in and I'll check they're alright."

Great, thought Jeni, I get a stranger poking around in my bra. At least she's nicer than the other sales assistants I've met today.

About twenty minutes later, everything had been packed into boxes to be sent to their appropriate destinations, and Jeni was back out on the street.

Draco wasn't there.

Jeni took a few moments to orientate herself, and realised that she hadn't a clue where she was. However, there was a rather enticing gift shop across the way, and since she hadn't yet had a chance to go Christmas shopping, Jeni walked across and into the store to find presents for Draco, Henri, Char and her dad.

When she emerged, Draco was there, and although he wasn't carrying anything, he looked rather smug, so Jeni assumed it was mission accomplished. She hurried across the road and flung her arms around his neck, careful not to whack him with the bags she was holding.

"Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you so much!"

Draco pulled away, smiling, and kissed her on the forehead. "You're welcome."

"Are we done now? I'm rather tired after all that."

"I think we can head back now. And like I said earlier, I believe I have some investigating to do."

Jeni blushed.

* * *

Some time later, they arrived back at Hogwarts. After stopping by Ravenclaw so that Jeni could leave her cloak and shopping, they made their way to the room they'd been in the night before.

Draco peeked in the door, then softly closed it again. "It appears to be…taken," he said.

Jeni took this to mean Henri and Emily had gotten there first.

"What'll we do now?" she asked.

"Follow me," Draco replied, taking her hand. Jeni did so for several corridors before they stopped, seemingly randomly. He left her by the wall, then started to walk back and forth, as though pacing.

"Draco?" Jeni said, confused. A second later, a door appeared in the wall. Draco opened it.

"After you," he said, ushering her into the room. Jeni entered to find one very similar to the one they'd left Henri in. There was a big fire and a large comfortable couch. Draco took off his cloak and hung it near the door, whilst Jeni kicked off her shoes and followed, snuggling into his side when he sat down on the sofa. He put his arm around her, stroking her hair. Jeni sighed happily, letting her eyes fall shut. If only she could stay like this forever, she thought.

"I can't wait to see you in those dresses," Draco murmured.

"Really?" she replied amusedly, looking up into his eyes.

Draco chose not to answer, instead pulling her onto his lap and kissing her gently. One of his hands began stroking the suede on her hip and thigh, the other slipping up her vest to feel the silky touch of her satin blouse across her back. Ah, yes, thought Jeni, slightly incoherently as her stomach fluttered. The _investigating_.

* * *

Some time later, Jeni was still on Draco's lap, nearly asleep in his arms. After all, it had been a very tiring day. All she was really aware of was his warmth, and the lingering scent of cinnamon. Jeni sighed contently, and heard Draco chuckle quietly.

She looked up, suddenly wide awake. "What?" she demanded.

He laughed again. "Just marvelling at how right I was, kitten."

Jeni tilted her head.

"Curled up on my lap like this, going from asleep to alert in seconds. Sometimes I amaze even myself at my brilliance."

Jeni decided he wasn't serious and put her head back down on his shoulder. His arms wrapped tightly around her.

"So tomorrow, Henri and I can start your training."

Jeni's eyes shot open again. "What?" she asked a second time.

"Like I said, today was a practise. But now Henri and I need to teach you properly, so that you don't have to just take the easy way out and not speak for a week."

"Ah." Jeni felt slightly dazed by this sudden revelation.

"Since tomorrow's Sunday, we'll have time. Weekdays will be a bit more difficult, but I'm sure we can work something out around all of that."

"Right," Jeni said. This cannot be happening, she thought to herself. It just can't. "And I suppose now that you've bought all those things today, I can't just say that it'd be easier if I didn't do all this." It was more of a statement than a question.

"Exactly," replied Draco with a smirk.

Jeni sighed again, although without any trace of the contentedness of before. "This is going to be hard isn't it?" she asked flatly.

"Maybe," Draco answered, "but you never know, you might enjoy it."

Jeni muttered something that could have been 'yeah, right'.

* * *

And so the next day came, like next days are wont to do, and Jeni found herself in the room of requirement again - although this time it resembled a large hall - with Henri and Draco, and a book on her head.

"Remind me what the point of this is again?" she asked grumpily.

Henri sighed. "It helps you to walk straight. And you've been trying to do this for half an hour. Are you sure it's not getting any easier?"

"Yeah," added Draco, "we need to get on to the dancing with a book on your head."

"What?" Jeni cried, causing the book to hit the floor once more.

Both boys chuckled. "He's just kidding," Henri said.

Jeni ignored them. "The thing is," she said, "you told me to walk on the line. But I can't see the line without looking down, and if I look down, the book falls off."

"Why didn't you say so?" Draco said exasperatedly. He pointed his wand at the far wall and a red dot appeared. "Look at that instead."

Jeni did so, and managed to walk a whole four metres before she had to grab the book as it slid off.

There was a small round of applause from behind her. Jeni fumed silently, replacing the book, and continuing towards the dot.

She finally made it, twenty metres and three book-saves later.

"Well done," Henri said. "Now turn around and walk back."

Jeni did turn around, but then sent the two of them a look which read, 'you'd better be kidding this time too.'

Apparently they weren't.

She managed to get all the way back with only two rescues; however, it seemed there was something even more difficult to come.

"You need to learn to dance," Draco stated, leaning against a convenient table.

Jeni stared. She'd always _wanted_ to learn to dance, but…

"It's not as hard as you think really," Draco added. "Just a waltz, and maybe foxtrot too. What do you think Henri?"

"Yeah, that should do," he replied casually. "Oh, wait…"

"_What_?" Jeni asked concernedly.

"Ah," Draco said. "_That_."

"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Jeni pleaded.

They looked at each other, then at her.

"This is just getting scarier, you know," she said.

"We have to do a performance dance," Draco finally told her, after a long pause.

"Per…perform?" Jeni stuttered. "As in, in front of people?"

"Well, since it's my seventeenth birthday, it's kind of like a social introduction, birthday party and resurrection all in one."

Jeni still looked blank.

"So, going back again to our favourite word, _tradition_, it's traditional for us to perform a dance. Which I _can_ choose, but, once more, it's traditionally tango, of all things. Sounds silly, I know, but I think they thought that it expressed the general tone of the family well. You know, disdain for all living things."

"I need to sit down," Jeni muttered. A chair conveniently appeared behind her and she dropped onto it. "I can't do this!"

Draco bent down to her level, nudging her chin up with a finger. "You can do it," he said, "and you will. After all," he joked, taping her gently on the nose, "you don't want to make my father mad, do you?"

Jeni almost turned white at this, joking or not.

"So how about we start with the waltz, since that's the easiest."

Jeni sighed, and let Draco lead her to the centre of the room. "Don't you dare laugh, Henri," she said over her shoulder.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Henri replied with a slight smirk.

Draco placed Jeni's left hand on his right shoulder, his right hand in the centre of her back, and took her right hand in his left.

"Now," he began, "you're going to step back on your right foot, and then side left, together." Draco continued to call the steps and lead Jeni through a very basic waltz pattern.

"That should do for now," he said a minute later. "Do you think you can remember any of it?"

"Hum." Jeni blinked.

"Let's go again then," Draco said patiently. He knew waltz was a little hard to pick up at first, but once you've done it enough, it becomes automatic.

They went through it a few more times, adding music as well which the room kindly provided. When they finally stopped, Jeni flopped back in the chair again. They'd been there most of the day, and she was exhausted.

"Is this what finishing schools are like then?" she asked.

"Somewhat, I suppose," Henri answered. "But we're not teaching you embroidery or any of that useless stuff."

"I like embroidery," Jeni muttered.

"Nothing wrong with it, I'm sure," Henri replied, "but it's not very useful, is it?"

"So all the women at this ball aren't going to sit around and embroider and chat in their free time?"

Draco laughed. "Not that I know of. Although, come to think of it, I don't really know _what_ they do."

"You mean I'm not going to be with you guys?" Jeni asked anxiously.

"Um…" Henri and Draco looked at each other.

"_Draco_! _Henri_! You can't leave me alone with a bunch of death eaters' wives!"

"There'll be other girls your age there," Henri said defensively.

"Oh really? I'm guessing you mean girls like Pansy or Millicent or Emily, huh? Yeah, I'm really going to be safe with them."

"Well…"

"Guys! You said if I went, then I'd be safe! So that means one of you has to be with me any time!"

Draco sighed. "She's right you know," he told Henri.

"I know. And it's probably going to be me, isn't it? You have all sorts of other things you have to do that I don't think we want to know about."

Draco looked away. "There's nothing I can do about that."

"Draco, you're not really going to become one of them, are you?" Jeni asked, standing and walking over to put her arms around his waist. "Draco, you can't!"

He continued to look away.

"Draco, please," Jeni pleaded, feeling close to tears. "I know I didn't say anything before now, but I didn't think then that you would actually go through with it! Surely Dumbledore can do something!"

He remained silent, but wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her head to his chest. She held him tightly.

"Draco…" she murmured.

He rested his chin on her head. Henri sensed this was a good time for him to leave.

As the door shut quietly behind him, Draco spoke: "I've already talked to Dumbledore about this," he said, "and he's agreed that it's for the best." Jeni looked up and opened her mouth to speak but Draco cut her off. "I can't risk my father disowning me. And this way, I can work for this side."

"Draco, I don't want you getting hurt! It'd be easier if you just-"

"There's nothing else I _can_ do. I can't just walk away from this whole thing, not when my father's in the middle of it. I have a responsibility to…deal with him."

"You're not an auror! It's too dangerous! Draco, I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you!"

"Kitten, I have to do something! Surely you understand?" Draco lowered his voice. "I don't think _I_ could bear it if something happened to _you_. So I'm not going to let it. Jeni, I" – he cupped her face – "I think I'm in love with you."

Jeni started, stepping back quickly, as though she'd gotten a slight electric shock.

"Draco, I…" Jeni said, her breathing suddenly heavier. "I…have to go now," she finished weakly, turning and running out the door.

Draco swore, walking over to the wall and punching it as hard as he could. The room saved him from serious damage by placing a mattress there just in time. Draco growled in frustration, then leant against the wall and slid down to the floor, resting his head on his arms on his knees.

"_Stupid, stupid, stupid_," he muttered to himself. "Just had to go and tell her right when she's found out you're actually going to be a death eater, didn't you?"

Draco didn't know what to do. It was clear to him now that he shouldn't have told her, not now, not like this, but obviously this was something he only knew in hindsight. And now he'd gone and scared her off. Hopefully she'd come round, he prayed she would, hopefully she just needed a little time to come to terms with everything – after all, a lot had happened in the last three days. There was still more they had to get through, but there was plenty of time really.

Draco just hoped he hadn't ruined everything.

* * *

Jeni stood outside the door to the room where they'd been meeting. She knew Henri had come here, at least she hoped he had, because she really needed to talk to him.

Henri looked up when Jeni opened the door, and, seeing her tear stained face, he went over and pulled her inside, closing the door and sitting her down near the fire. Then he sat down himself next to her and waited.

"Oh Henri!" Jeni cried, hiccupping as the tears started flowing again. "I don't know what I've done! I shouldn't have left!"

Henri remained silent. He knew Jeni would explain in her own time.

"I mean," she went on, "all I did was say that I didn't know what I'd do if something happened to him and then he goes and tells me he has to become a death eater because he's in love with me!"

Henri frowned. "Are you sure that's exactly what he said?"

"Well, not exactly, but that's what it seemed like. That is, he said he has to become a death eater because he has no other choice, and something about Dumbledore, and working for this side…and being responsible for his father and not letting anything happen to me…Henri, I just don't know what to do! I should've stayed there, but what was I suppose to do? He just went and sprang all that on me like that, and it was the last thing I expected."

Henri sighed. Draco may go on about controlling what one said and all that, but when it came to things between him and Jeni, he seemed to lose all tact – the whole episode about Jeni's mother and now this…but still. At least now Jeni couldn't have any doubt as to whether Draco was concerned for her safety.

"Jeni, you don't have to be so upset. Draco's probably feeling like a right ass himself right now. I bet he hasn't left the room yet, either. You could go back."

"I could? Well, I…perhaps I should."

Henri smiled. "You'll feel better if you get all this resolved now."

"Yes…I suppose you're right…" Jeni stood and made her way over to the door, slightly unsteady on her feet.

Standing outside the room of requirement, Jeni took a deep breath. She had to try to not look so upset. She rubbed her cheeks, closed her eyes and opened the door. But as soon as she saw Draco sitting curled up against the wall, any inner resolve she'd managed to garner completely broke down. She ran across the room and threw herself down beside him.

"Draco?" she cried. "Draco? Are you okay? I'm sorry! I shouldn't have left like that! It's just that I didn't expect what you said, and the thing is, I think I'm…"

Draco looked up, his eyes searching.

"It's just that, I think I'm in lo-" Draco cut her off by placing a finger on her lips.

"Shhh," he whispered. "You don't have to say it."

Jeni remained silent, but her eyes said it all. Draco sighed. This just made things more difficult. He reached out, shifting around and tugging her into his lap, content just to hold her for a while.

She'd come back.

* * *

"Sunday was certainly interesting," Henri commented to Draco a few days later as they were waiting for Jeni for another 'class'.

"I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't sent her back," Draco replied gratefully. "I don't even know what made me say it in the first place. I mean, gods Henri, you know me – it's not something I do, bursting out with things like that. But with her…it's like everything I've ever learnt is gone; like I can't control anything any more." He sighed. Just at that moment, before either of them could say anything, the door opened any Jeni entered.

She frowned. "Why do I get the feeling you were talking about me?"

"No idea," Draco replied quickly, moving over to her. They were soon going through the waltz again.

It was Henri's turn to sigh. It was clear to him already that there would still be more that they had to go through before they'd be able to just have a normal relationship. Already in three days Jeni had had to go through coming to terms with surrounding herself with the 'enemy', having ridiculous quantities of clothing, and Draco's plans for becoming 'one of them' whilst still fighting for the right side, plus…Draco's little confession. He wondered whether Scarlet knew what she'd done, making Draco promise her that last holidays. Mind you, knowing her, she probably did. In fact, this whole thing had most likely been her little plan. He just hoped she was prepared to deal with the consequences of her actions.

* * *

As the few remaining weeks before the holidays unfolded, the lessons continued, and Jeni learnt the rest of the dances, as well as how to sit, walk, and ride in a skirt (the room had kindly provided them with some horses and a large field), and also how to eat – Jeni didn't think she'd ever seen so many different types of cutlery, although Henri assured her that they never used them all at once.

And so it happened that Jeni felt like someone had pressed a fast-forward button on her life. The start of December had passed her by in a flash, and she now found herself standing in the Entrance Hall, on the morning of the day they were to leave for Henri's house – a few days after the start of the holidays. She only had a small bag of personal things, since Draco had had all the clothes he'd bought her sent ahead, and Windcharm in her cage. After a few minutes she spotted Henri and Draco emerging from the entrance to the dungeons. Draco had something hidden behind his back.

Jeni frowned. Draco smiled. This only caused her to become more disconcerted. "Draco, what is that behind your…" Jeni trailed off when Draco revealed a huge bunch of bird-of-paradise flowers. "I…that…but…" she stuttered. Draco was only just able to move the flowers out of the way in time before Jeni threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "How did you know what my favourite flower was?"

Draco laughed. "Boyfriends are paid to know these things," he replied.

Jeni laughed herself. "Well I guess _that_ explains it," she joked. "So how are we getting to Henri's place?"

"By floo," Henri replied, "from Snape's office."

"Do we…do we have to?" Jeni asked, her good mood instantly quashed. She'd always been a little afraid of Snape, but really, who wasn't? Oh, right, she thought, the two boys standing in front of her weren't.

"Is something wrong?" Draco asked, concerned.

"No, no," Jeni reassured him. "At least…well, Snape's just…"

"Just what?" Henri prompted.

"Just…a bit scary."

"Ah," they both said at once. "Well," Draco continued, "you'll just have to get used to him, because Snape's going to be at the ball. In fact, he'll be there the whole week, just like everyone else."

Jeni opened her mouth, and then closed it again.

"Don't worry," Henri told her, "you'll live."

"Oh, really," Jeni muttered. Draco picked up her bag, and, Jeni carrying her cage, they set off back down the dungeon corridor, arriving at Snape's office a few minutes later.

He was standing waiting for them. Jeni was amazed at how the man's robes billowed gently even with a clear lack of wind. She found it rather spooky. Couldn't the man just be normal? Cut his hair? Wear a colour _other_ than black?

Apparently not.

Jeni sighed, and then decided that now was as good a time as any to begin acting as she had been instructed. She straightened her back and removed all emotion from her face – well, at least as best she could.

Draco and Snape spoke briefly, in such hushed tones that Jeni couldn't hear a word that was said, and then she was watching Henri sprinkle floo powder into the fire, and stepping into it, her arm linked with his as he spoke their destination…

* * *

"Henri!" Jeni heard a woman cry as they stepped out of the fire at Henri's house. "Ah! Vous êtes arrivés enfin," she continued in French.

"Oui, maman," Henri replied, sounding annoyed. "Je t'ai dit que rien…"

"Je _sais_ que tu le dis _toujours_, mais on ne sait jamais, mon petit chou!"

Draco laughed. Jeni jumped as she realised he was standing right behind her. "She just called him her little cabbage," he whispered in her ear.

Jeni giggled. "That's an endearment in French?" she asked.

"Yep," Draco said. "Odd language, huh?"

"Yeah, I gue- wait! You speak French?" Jeni demanded.

"Um…yeah," Draco said, then sighed. "Father thinks it's suitable, or whatever."

"Ah…" Jeni replied. She sighed internally. How jealous she was! But there was no time to feel miserable, as Henri had turned back to them and was making introductions.

"Mum, this is Draco and Jeni," he said. "Draco, Jeni, this is my mother."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs Cheng," Jeni said, holding out her hand to shake hands with Henri's mother. The woman laughed, then took it.

"Nice to meet you too," she replied, "and you may call me Sylvie. Now, you three probably want to go up to Henri's rooms to get ready, yes?"

"Yes, mum," Henri said tiredly. "Come on guys."

They left the room, and once they'd walked down enough corridors and up and down enough stairs to get Jeni thoroughly lost, they arrived at a door.

"Go on," Henri said to Jeni. "I just want to talk to Draco for a minute."

"Oh…" Jeni replied. "Alright." She opened the door and disappeared inside.

When the door was shut again, Henri slumped against it. "I can't believe we forgot to teach her how to be introduced," he groaned.

"Well, we'll just have to go in there and do it right now," Draco said, matter-of-factly.

"At least my mum just thinks she's cute," Henri continued. "Mind you, she's pretty hard to offend. My hope is she just thinks Jeni is…countryish. Which I suppose in a way she's meant to be…"

"Look, it doesn't matter," Draco told him. "We can teach her now."

Henri sighed. "Yes, alright."

* * *

Meanwhile, Jeni was in awe. There wasn't really any other word for it. She'd walked into a rather large common room – there was a big fire and some large couches. Everything was…well, a lot happier looking then she'd been expecting, she had to say; although that must be the influence of Henri's mother. After all, it did all look rather French. There was a lot of green, which was a given, but also cream and brown, and it was all very nice. She put her flowers down on a table and walked over and sat down by the fire, sinking into the fluffy cushions. Then the door opened again.

"Jeni, we…have something else we need to teach you," Henri said.

Jeni instantly felt slightly ill.

"Introductions," Henri continued. "We completely forgot…"

Oh dear, Jeni thought. "I went and made an idiot out of myself, didn't I?"

"Not _really_," Draco said comfortingly.

"Not really means yes," Jeni replied miserably, curling up into a ball on the couch.

Henri looked pointedly at Draco, as if to say 'you've done it now'. He went over and sat next Jeni. "It doesn't matter at all," he told her gently, "since it was my mum. It just…let us know that there was something we'd missed. Which in a way makes it a good thing, doesn't it?"

"I suppose," Jeni mumbled.

"So up you hop," Henri said brightly. "We'll teach you now." He stood, and Jeni soon followed, looking slightly happier.

"Now," Henri said, not giving Draco a chance to say anything even stupider, "there's a difference between men and women, and between social and business situations, and between social levels."

"Wonderful."

"Yes, isn't it?" Henri chose to ignore Jeni's sarcasm. "Not that you have to worry about that really, but it makes a nice introduction. What you did before would normally occur strictly in business situations only. All we really need to teach you is how to be introduced to men and women. So let's pretend Draco's his father," – Jeni gulped – "and that you're being introduced to him. Because he's of higher social standing, he gets to know who you are first."

"Of course," Jeni muttered.

"Lord Malfoy," Henri began, "this is Miss Jeni Starre. Jeni, this is Lord Malfoy."

Draco held out his hand, palm up.

Jeni turned to Henri for direction. "I thought we weren't supposed to shake hands."

"You don't," Henri replied. "You rest your fingers gently on his."

"Okay," Jeni said, lifting her right hand.

"And then you curtsy," Henri continued, "and he bows."

"I curtsy how exactly?"

Henri sighed. "Move over and we'll demonstrate then. That might make it a little easier."

Jeni moved obligingly, and Henri stepped into her place, resting his fingers on Draco's and curtsying surprisingly gracefully, lowering his head at the same time. Draco bowed at the same time, and kissed Henri's fingers. Jeni couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"That's got to be one of the funniest things I've ever seen!" Jeni managed to say, in between giggles.

"Yes, well," Draco said, trying to maintain his dignity, "I'm not going to do it again."

"Me neither," Henri added. "So _do_ try to get it right."

Jeni took a deep breath, finally managing to control herself. She rested her hand on Draco's, and curtsied with as much grace as she could muster, feeling Draco's lips brush her fingers. She looked up, at the same time as he did, and their eyes met.

Jeni smiled shyly.

Draco smirked.

Jeni giggled.

"What?" Draco demanded.

"You look just like I imagine your father would," she explained.

"I do not!"

"Do too," she replied cheekily, smirking herself.

"Guys, please!" Henri said, trying to separate them. "Now, Jeni, your clothes that Draco sent here are just over there, so…"

"So you can leave now, Henri, and let her change," Draco interrupted.

"Oh, and you're not going to?"

"Well, I don't think that's entirely necess-"

"Both of you, out!" Jeni cried over their bickering.

The two boys fell silent. Henri sighed. "Come on, Draco," he said, leading him off into a different room. "The boxes are over there, Jeni." He pointed.

"Thanks, Henri," Jeni said, feeling relieved but not exactly sure why.

She went over to where the various packages were stacked neatly against the wall and sorted through them. She was surprised for a second to find a pair of shoes in amongst it all, but then, she supposed, it was to be expected, wasn't it? Draco wouldn't have bought her _underwear_ and not shoes, after all.

Once she'd changed, Jeni had a look around some of the rooms attached to the one she'd first entered. After a moment, she was able to find one with a mirror, and was thus able to adjust her clothes and fix up her hair, as well as performing a few simple make-up charms.

When she returned to the main room, the boys were back.

"We figured you'd be done by now," Draco said.

"No," Henri corrected, "_you_ thought she'd be done. You wouldn't believe how desperate he was to get back in here," Henri said to Jeni, "probably just wanted to try and catch you when you weren't decent."

Jeni blushed.

"I did not!" Draco retorted. "I just don't see how someone can take _that_ long to get changed!"

"Haven't you ever heard of taking your time?" Henri replied.

"Enough!" Jeni cried. "Jeez, you guys have got to stop fighting about such stupid things." She flopped into the soft cushions of a couch.

"Jeni!" Draco scolded. "Didn't we teach you how to sit properly?"

Jeni groaned. "But it's just you two here!" she complained.

"So?" Draco said, raising an eyebrow and glaring at her slightly until she sat up properly. "That's better."

Jeni sighed. "When are we leaving then?" she asked. "We won't be going that late will we?"

"No," Henri answered. "But we'll be having lunch with my mum before we leave. And I think Snape's going to be joining us."

"What?" Jeni promptly lost all control of her posture.

"_Jeni_," Draco warned.

She sighed, but sat up straight. "What was that, Henri?"

Henri laughed. "You know very well what I said."

"Yes, that's true," Jeni continued airily. "Lunch with Snape – how delightful!"

"You've done it now," Henri muttered to Draco.

"Let me see," Jeni was saying. "It's about two o'clock now, so surely lunch will be soon."

"You're right. We should be going," Henri said, walking over and opening the door. Jeni and Draco followed. "After you," he said, ushering them through.

* * *

Lunch proved to be an enlightening experience. The five of them were grouped together up one end of a very, very long table, which struck Jeni as rather pointless. Still, she was further distracted by having been seated next to Snape, hardly the most _desirable_ thing.

"Miss _Starre_," Snape said.

Oh my God! Jeni thought. He's talking to me!

"How are you enjoying your holidays so far?" he continued.

This, Jeni decided, was to be the _ultimate_ test of her abilities. At least, it would be until she had to talk to Draco's father. "Very much, thankyou Professor," she replied, as brightly as she dared. Maybe Draco was making Snape test her. "Henri's house is just so beautiful, isn't it?" she added, as an attempt at conversation.

"Yes, indeed," the man replied. "In fact, I believe his mother did it all herself. Isn't that right, Sylvie?"

Sylvie looked up. "Yes," she answered. "I'm glad it pleases you."

Jeni breathed a temporary sigh of relief as Snape continued talking to Sylvie. Well, she thought, that hadn't been entirely disastrous. Although it now seemed that the adults were talking about antiques. How boring – sure they were pretty, but beyond that, she wasn't really fussed about age or origin, or _whatever_. Noticing that she had become a gooseberry, Jeni felt free to turn her entire attention to her meal. She had a feeling that she would feel alone rather a lot over the next week, as this was a world she clearly did _not_ fit into. Not that she'd every fit in anywhere, it seemed. Char had been all she'd had, and now she was in France. It occurred to her briefly that maybe Sylvie knew Char's dad, but she was too scared to ask, and what did it matter anyway?

Come to think of it, what did any of it matter?

Jeni looked glumly at her plate. Maybe it was just _that time_, but she felt thoroughly depressed and it had to be due at least in part to where she was, and this whole stupid situation. Why had she come? Oh, that's right – to dig up old pain about her mother. Sure, the woman had been gone before she'd known it, and everyone always said you can't really lose what you never had, but…well, it shouldn't have been this way, should it? Children were supposed to have mothers, and then said children should not be going to where all the evil _things_ that killed their mother-that-should-have-been-there were.

Jeni was far past confusing herself and finally decided that such thoughts were for the kind of nights where no one finds you crying, rather than at lunch. With other people.

Oh, right, Jeni realised. There were other people there, who, had they been paying any attention to her whatsoever, would probably have noticed her looking very out of it.

She glanced around the table, and discovered that there didn't seem to be any immediate risk of that. Jeni decided she should still look interested in _something_, whether she was being ignored or not.

Mind you, what she could look interested in was limited. It extended to the aforementioned antiques conversation, and some secret discussion that Draco and Henri were having very quietly.

Thankfully lunch did not last long, and they were excused from the table. Jeni trailed along after the boys on their way back to Henri's rooms. They didn't seem to notice her at all.

Well, it's just like it always had been before, Jeni reasoned.

But as soon as they were inside Henri's common room, both boys turned to Jeni excitedly.

"You explain it," Henri said. "It was your idea."

"Oh, alright," Draco said. "So! We have come up with this," he said, proudly holding up a thin gold necklace with a tiny charm of an entwined snake and raven. They both looked at Jeni expectantly.

"Um…" Jeni said. "That's really pretty guys."

"She doesn't get it," Henri said, mystified. "Oh, yeah," he added sharply. "That might just be because you didn't _explain_."

"I was getting there," Draco said defensively.

Henri muttered something about how they would be here for a year.

Draco sighed as though Henri was just being immature, which he most likely was.

"As I was _about_ to say," he continued, "this necklace is charmed with basic protection spells, so that you'll be safe from surprise attacks and 'stupefy', things like that, and so that also, should you be in danger and neither of us are there, we'll know and we can come and, well, rescue you, so to speak."

"Aww," Jeni said. "That's so sweet of you both." She instantly felt better from her mood of before, and was nearly bouncing where she stood.

"There's one more thing," Draco said. He undid the clasp and reached around the back of Jeni's neck, fastening it again. Jeni looked down…and couldn't see it.

"Where did it go?" she asked, reaching up, only to discover she could feel it.

"That's just it," Draco said. "It's invisible when you're wearing it. But it's still there. Pretty amazing, huh?" he asked, slipping back into his old over-confident mode.

Jeni laughed. "Definitely."

"Feel safer now?" Henri asked. "You spent most of lunch looking pretty gloomy."

So they had noticed! "Oh, well, you know," she said. "Just talking myself under a cloud I guess."

"We understand," Draco said. "Still, you've no reason to be anything other than happy for the rest of the week."

"Oh really?"

"Of course," Henri said quickly. "But…well, it's a surprise."

"Ah-huh," Jeni said sceptically. "And that means you won't tell me."

"Precisely."

"Still, I must be going to find out soon, right?"

Henri and Draco looked at each other.

"Soon enough," Draco eventually replied.

Something gave Jeni the feeling this wouldn't be an _entirely_ happy surprise, although she couldn't imagine what it was.

"Anyway," Henri said – Jeni could tell he was trying to change the topic. "We're leaving very soon, so are both of you ready?"

"I think so," Jeni said. "We don't have to do anything before we go do we?"

"I don't think so," Henri replied. "Looks like we're off then."

Jeni clapped her hands excitedly.

Henri and Draco stared at her.

"Enough of that now, alright?" Draco told her. "Formal mode now."

Jeni sighed. "Yes _Draco_," she said with a scowl as she picked up her flowers.

He just laughed. "Come on," he said, taking her hand and leading her out the door after Henri.

They went back to the room they had arrived in, which Jeni decided must be the floo room. Sylvie and Snape were both there already.

"We will join you later today," Sylvie said. "We both have some business to finish before we leave." She moved forward, and kissed each of them on both cheeks.

Jeni was glad that Snape settled for shaking hands with both boys and nodding to her. She returned this with a smile as best she could.

"Right," Draco said. "We're all going to go together so no one gets lost. Which you would without me, since you're not linked to the house."

Jeni was confused, but held onto Draco's hand tightly all the same. Henri threw a large handful of powder into the fire, and as the flames turned green, Draco took hold of Henri's arm and they stepped into the fire, as Draco spoke the word: "Home."

As they started spinning, Jeni clung to Draco's arm as tightly as she could, her eyes squeezed shut.

After what seemed like an eternity, they landed abruptly in a rather large, but bare, room which simply contained several other fireplaces.

"Quick," Draco said, "tidy yourselves up. Father will be here soon."

Jeni looked around and saw a mirror on a nearby wall. She brushed the bits of soot off of her clothes and straightened her hair. She'd just walked back over to Draco when the door opened.

* * *

And so it ends. But I have to say, I'm amazingly proud of myself, because I have achieved my goal of fast-forwarding (sort of) all the way to Draco's house, and I have also written my longest chapter ever, about 11 800 words. XD So proud. Normally, this would be at least four chapters worth of story, but for once, I'd like to have a tiny little scroll bar on the side…so, yeah.

Now, to the translations (I shall simply copy the necessary section, then write it all in English.):

"_Henri!" Jeni heard a woman cry as they stepped out of the fire at Henri's house. "Ah! You have finally arrived," she continued in French._

"_Yes, mum," Henri replied, sounding annoyed. "I told you that nothing…"_

"_I know that you always say that, but one never knows, my little cabbage!"_

And now the explanations:

"Little cabbage" is just "darling", really. Ah, how I love French.

Sylvie says at lunch "I'm glad it pleases you," which works a lot better in French, and what we'd say is, 'I'm glad you like it'.

Jeni says shortly after that she's become a gooseberry, something which I picked up from the GAT last year…which means that the people sitting on either side of you are talking to the people on the other side of them, and you have no one to talk to.

Finally, I don't know if this needs to be said, but in France, people _do_ kiss cheeks a lot, and in my opinion it wastes a lot of time. But still…when I was there, a lot of the time they'd ask first…I guess they don't want to freak out the foreigners. Still, whilst it is time consuming, I'm not about to complain…considering how many cute cousins my host sister has. :D

So hopefully this is enough to tide you over until the next installment, which perhaps I shall try to get done for the end of next term, but it all depends on how busy I am.

Love and hugs (but not to any evil people who flame me), JDG.


	22. Secrets and surprises

If Only

By Jeni Draco's Girl

Well…Hasn't it been a while?? " How embarrassing…but now I have finished high school!! …and starting uni soon may make this the only chapter for a while…so…I'm very sorry. Parts of this have been swimming around in my head for the whole time I was away on holiday (to New Zealand) so hopefully it's just a matter of stringing them together…we'll see, I suppose.

Now that Jeni's arrived at Draco's place, whatever will happen next???

* * *

The door swung open silently, and a man entered, his blond hair immediately giving away his identity.

"Draco, welcome home," he said, in a tone that could almost have been affectionate.

Lucius Malfoy was a very imposing presence. He was tall and wide shouldered, although in an elegant way. His face was highly structured and defined, and his hair neatly held back with a black ribbon at the nape of his neck. He wore a very expensive-looking tailored suit, black of course, and a robe in such a dark shade of green that it was hardly identifiable as such. His right hand rested casually on a long black cane with a silver cobra's head, which Jeni found rather chilling to look at. He looked such a picture of aristocracy that Jeni felt dizzy and had to look away.

In the meantime, Lucius had moved on to greet Henri. Just as he turned back towards her, Draco stepped forwards.

"Father," he began, "I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Miss Jeni Starre. Jeni, this is my father, Lucius Malfoy." Jeni rested her fingers as lightly as she could on the offered hand and curtseyed with all the grace she could muster, as she felt soft lips brush over her fingertips. "Enchanté," Lucius said with an air of kindness. Jeni looked up and accidentally met his gaze, and saw him smirk as he awaited her response. Jeni felt her throat tighten and then responded with the same smirk she'd practised all that time ago to use on Draco.

"Well," Lucius said, "I'll get back to supervising the preparations and let Draco show you to your rooms and get you settled in. We won't be expecting you down until dinner, so that should give you plenty of time."

"Yes father," Draco said as the man left and Jeni let out the breath she hadn't even realised she'd been holding.

Draco led them up many, many stairs and down many corridors, until they reached a door. He showed Henri in, indicated that Emily's rooms were next door, and then took Jeni over to the other side of the corridor.

"Now, there's a door connecting our rooms together, and you should knock before you come in, alright?"

Jeni nodded obediently.

"Good. I'll leave you to it for a while."

Jeni hurriedly agreed, wanting to know what the room was like as soon as possible, especially considering how beautiful the ones at Henri's house had been. Draco opened the door for her and she stepped in straight away, barely noticing him shut it behind her.

Jeni wandered further into the large lounge area she'd entered. Everything was in pale colours with dark wood. There were several large squishy couches positioned around an open fireplace, with huge fluffy cushions piled on them and around on the floor. One wall was wood-panelled, and it had several shelves full of books and a cabinet with all the snacks Jeni loved. She decided straight away that this trip was _not _going to be good for her.

Across from the door, windows looked out onto seemingly endless lawns and gardens, and she was sure she could see a lake and some low buildings in the distance.

Many doors led off the main room – one, she soon discovered, went outside onto the balcony. Another was to the bathroom, which was tiled in pink and bronze. There was an enormous bath, and the room was wonderfully warm. She gazed at the many taps along the edge of the bath. At home, there were two. But here…Jeni experimentally turned one, only to be shocked as large purple bubbles scented like lavender started dripping out. Experimentation revealed others to be scented like mandarin, strawberry or vanilla – one was even chocolate – and one very fancy tap introduced sparkling goldfish into the water. Having tried each one, Jeni fixed her mind on having a bath straight away, opting for strawberry and vanilla bubbles, with goldfish of course, as she didn't want to use them all and end up smelling like a fruit salad.

One bath and a very fluffy towel later, Jeni's mind returned to exploration. The next room she chose turned out to be a very extensive wardrobe which contained all the clothes Draco had bought her, along with some she was sure he hadn't. Down the end of the room, surrounded by floor-to-ceiling mirrors, was the blue ball gown on a dress stand. Jeni found herself gasping once more as the silver beads on the bodice shimmered in the light of the candles that had flickered into life. She walked towards it, relishing the feel of thick carpet under her bare feet, and reached out to touch the smooth, cloud-like, pure silk. She sighed, thinking of how amazing the last few months with Draco had been. Then she shook her head, her thoughts returning to purely material matters and the unknown size of her bed.

The bed, surprisingly enough, was not what grabbed Jeni's attention as she swung open the door to the last remaining room. What did, however, was the garment draped over the corner of the bed. A garment that definitely did not constituted Jeni's idea of decent sleepwear. It most certainly did not. Draco had clearly enjoyed his shopping detour far more than Jeni had thought…

She snatched up the tiny thing and stormed out of the bedroom, across the lounge and straight through the door that connected her to Draco's rooms.

"Draco!" she called, for he wasn't in the room, "Draco, what do you think this…is…um…well…"

Draco had just emerged from what must have been his bathroom, still damp, his hair dripping water, and wearing nothing but a black towel low around his waist. Jeni felt she'd faint right then and there.

"How easily we forget, kitten," Draco said as he approached her.

"Hmm…what?" Jeni replied, her mind hardly capable of cohesive thought at that moment.

"The door, kitten. You didn't knock, did you?"

"Oh…um…well, you see…" Jeni stuttered as she backed into the wall under the pressure of Draco's gaze. Despite this, he was still soon right in front of her. He ran a finger gently across her collarbone and up her throat to her chin, causing a shiver to run straight through her, and then bent down as though to kiss her, but stopped, his mouth just an inch from hers.

"You need to learn to explore all your options," Draco whispered, before swiftly opening the door that was beside Jeni and pushing her out, somehow managing to swat her behind on the way. Jeni heard the door close behind her.

Well, I never! Jeni thought indignantly. And anyway, explore what options? She made her way dazedly back to the bedroom, only to notice that either side of the bed was a small set of drawers. Ah, Jeni realised a few moments later, having discovered quite a few sets of appropriate and decent pyjamas. Options. She flopped back onto the bed. How could she not have realised that Draco had just been having a joke? Honestly, as if he'd really expected her to wear that. Jeni felt laughter at her own idiocy rising inside her and then bubble out, her anger with it. She stopped as she heard the door to Draco's room open and close. A smirk slipped across her face and she got up and stepped out of the bedroom.

"How easily we forget, eh?" she said, pleased she could throw the line back at the man standing in front of her, now fully dressed. He chose to ignore her, instead moving forward and sliding his hands around her waist, pulling her close to him.

"Do you realise how silly you can be?" Draco asked, teasingly, his eyes studying her face so intently she could feel it.

"Perhaps," she replied, pulling away and going to sit down, being careful to hold her posture correctly lest he reprimand her again. "But clearly you do. You know, I have half a mind to suspect you planned the whole thing just so I'd see you without your shirt on." She sneaked a sideways glance to try and see if he'd reacted, but again he didn't. The fact that she couldn't get a rise out of him was beginning to frustrate her. Jeni sighed and flopped back, but all that caused was for Draco to come and sit down beside her and prod her waist, causing her to sit up again with a jerk and a grumble.

"It's seven o'clock," he said. "Are you planning on going to dinner like that?"

Jeni started at the unexpectedness of the comment, and then realised that it was, in fact, quite dark outside, the last pale glow of sunset lingering on the horizon. She also noticed, for the first time, that Draco himself was already dressed for dinner, in dress-robes with a silvery-grey shirt that matched one of her dresses.

"No," Jeni answered, standing. She went and let herself into the dressing room, leaving Draco to do as he pleased. As she took down the hanger for the silver dress, a flash of light from behind her made her spin around, only to notice a thin drawer in the square seat in the centre of the room. She was quite sure it hadn't been there before, but she was learning that you could never be sure of these things in Draco's house. Sliding open the drawer, Jeni discovered a shimmering collar-necklace with a matching bracelet, and diamond stud earrings. Her breath caught in her throat. It must have been the most expensive thing she'd ever seen. There was a small card sitting the corner, which read simply, '_An overdue gift, with love'_. Jeni frowned, but left it, going over to the mirror to get changed.

She slipped into the dress, a satin floor length dream, with a small train that pooled behind her and a modest V-neckline, the two straps narrowing over her shoulders to criss-cross down her back to her waist. Just as she was done satisfactorily arranging them, a house-elf appeared by her side, which nearly sent her tumbling to the floor in shock. The house-elf shrieked in horror.

"Poppy is very sorry miss, she is not meaning to scare you at all!"

"Oh…no, I'm fine…" Jeni replied, as the elf looked desperately around the room in search of a sharp object.

"I'm fine! Really!" she exclaimed. Poppy seemed to calm down.

"Well, if it's alright, miss, Master Malfoy is sending me to be doing miss's hair."

"Um, yes…okay." Jeni sat down on the nearest chair, feeling highly uncomfortable as the elf climbed onto a stool behind her. Twenty minutes of wondering what Draco had been doing all this time later, she stepped back in front of the mirror to inspect the result of Poppy's gentle tugging and whispered magic, and gasped. Almost all of her hair was pulled back and up, leaving two neat curls framing her face. The rest was held in a bunch by pale pink rose buds, and cascaded in loose curls over her right shoulder. Jeni was shocked out of her reverie by a slight pull on her dress. She looked down.

"If you don't mind sitting back down miss, Poppy still has to do miss's makeup too."

"Oh! Of course," Jeni said, obeying right away, since obliging and cheerful was probably the best way to be with an elf inclined to self harm. Poppy moved her stool around and set to work again. When Jeni peered in the mirror once more, she did not think she'd ever looked so pretty in her life. Her lips were the same shade of pink as the roses in her hair, her cheeks glowed and her eyes sparkled, fringed by long thick lashes that made them look bluer than ever. Just as she turned around to thank the elf, Poppy disappeared with a crack.

Sighing inwardly, Jeni selected and put on a pair of matching shoes, and then the earrings and bracelet from the lone drawer. She picked up the necklace, gave herself a quick look over and then stepped out the door.

For possibly the first time, Jeni managed to elicit from Draco a reaction similar to hers when she'd entered his room earlier that evening. She smiled, performed a little twirl, and held up the necklace.

"You didn't…?"

"No," he replied, taking it from her. She turned around and held her hair out of the way. "I'm not telling either," he continued, as he fastened the clasp. Jeni pouted. "There's no use moping. You'll find out soon enough." He slid his arm around her waist and guided her to the door. "And," he whispered, placing a kiss below her ear as he opened it, "you look stunning."

"So do you, _Master Malfoy_," Jeni replied. Draco rolled his eyes.

"It's positively embarrassing, the way those house-elves carry on. Not to mention it makes me sound like a child. Father's is the only title around here worth having – he's a lord." Jeni found herself catching a glimpse of the old Draco she hadn't seen in a while, though she supposed it was simply preparation for the people they were about to encounter. "Here we go then," Draco said, placing Jeni's hand around his arm as the doors they were now in front of opened.

Jeni found herself pulled into a flurry of introductions. The large room was packed with people, and she wondered fleetingly how large the mansion must be for them all to be staying here, especially if the rooms were as large as her own.

Many of the names she recognised from school and it seemed that most of those present were Slytherins. The prospect of spending a week in such company was daunting, but it was what she'd already resigned herself to. Luckily there was almost no need on Jeni's part for her to contribute to any conversations that sprang up between Draco and the adults of that moment. And in this way, no one really stuck in Jeni's mind, except one woman. She had dark hair and bright blue eyes, and there was something oddly familiar about her that nagged at Jeni's mind. The woman was with her husband, Lord Zabini, who was amazingly tall, with very dark skin and slanted eyes. Jeni immediately placed them as Blaise's parents, although she could see more in common between Blaise and his father, as opposed to his mother. They were also Draco's Godparents.

After some time milling around and chatting, the flood of people made their way through to the dining hall, which contained the longest table Jeni thought she'd ever seen in her life. She was happily seated between Draco and Henri, who she was glad to see again. Throughout the meal, Jeni's mind kept returning to Lady Zabini, and she spared frequent glances down the table to where the beautiful woman was sitting with her husband. Her son, Blaise, was further down with some other students from his year at school. It was during one of these glances that Jeni noticed a curious, thin scar running diagonally across her neck. It had been hidden by her hair, but at that particular moment, she turned her head and her hair fell out of the way. Her eyes caught Jeni's, and she smiled kindly before turning back to the man to whom she'd been talking.

As the meal finished, and people began to get up from the table, Jeni saw Narcissa Malfoy for the first time. She had been sitting down one end of the table, Lucius at the other. She had the same aristocratic bearing as both her husband and son, her hair so pale it was almost white, and her eyes an icy blue. She was certainly beautiful – Jeni, like everyone else, had heard the rumours of her being part veela. Yet there was also the obvious coldness about her that came with the type of society in which she lived.

By this time, the party had begun to move off to different rooms in smaller groups, and it was becoming quite late. She gradually realised that Draco was steering her and Henri towards the door. And then they were out.

"That eager to get out, were you?" Jeni asked.

"We're going to have to spend the next week with all these people, aren't we," Draco replied. "There's no need to spend more time with them than strictly necessary."

"What about you?" Jeni asked Henri. "Are you just going to leave Emily in there?"

"She's with her friends and her parents. She's fine," Henri responded, brushing off Jeni's almost accusatory tone.

Jeni sighed. "Well, I guess it's time for bed then." She yawned.

"Not yet it isn't," Draco said.

"Hmm?" Jeni replied sleepily.

"Look at that," Henri said to Draco. "She's already gone into sleep mode."

"You can't sleep now, you've only just eaten," Draco said.

"Just eaten? That meal lasted over two hours! I'm exhausted!"

"Well, get unexhausted then. Draco got one of those _telah-vision_ things that you mentioned once, so we were going to watch some _mooves_."

Jeni laughed, her brain shifting into gear again as they walked back to Draco's room. "It's called a _television_, and they're _movies_…not that you probably care that much. But can I get changed first? Into _actual_ pyjamas?"

She reached her door and went in, hearing Henri ask Draco, "What does she mean, 'actual pyjamas'?"

* * *

A few hours later, and they were all seated in their pyjamas in beanbags in Draco's lounge, with boxes of popcorn and the biggest, shiniest TV Jeni had ever encountered. Strangely, despite how new the screen was, the movies Draco had gotten – and who knew where from – were all quite old, and many she'd never seen before. The first one they'd watched was _The Picture of Dorian Gray_, something Henri and Draco had managed to understand quite easily, as they were used to moving pictures (see A/N). They also watched _Singing in the Rain_ before Jeni decided to go to bed, a film Draco described as having "too many muggle devices" for his liking.

Jeni left the boys trying to decide between an old 'James Bond' movie and _Casablanca_, and fell asleep almost as soon as she'd managed to worm her way in amongst all the covers and pillows.

* * *

When Jeni woke the next morning it was to the quiet chatter of the guests outside in the gardens, some strolling, others playing croquet. The clock on the table beside her announced that it was already well past ten, and why wasn't she up yet? Jeni groaned, contemplated smashing the clock on the floor, and struggled into a sitting position. Once she was up, she noticed a letter propped up on the table to her other side, her name written across the front in curling script. She cautiously reached over and picked it up, snapping the seal on the back with her eyes half closed, almost expecting it to explode in her face.

The letter read simply:

_I would appreciate if you would meet me in the third library at 11.30 this morning, as I have something very important to talk to you about. _

_Sincerely, Scarlet Zabini_

Jeni stared at the letter for several minutes, thinking about the woman she'd met last night and her unexplained familiarity, before realising that eleven thirty was in less than an hour. And she wasn't dressed. And she hadn't eaten breakfast. And she didn't even know where the third library was.

She leapt out of bed, still clutching the letter, and ran to the door to Draco's room, knocking on it as hard as she could.

Inside, Draco stirred from where he was asleep still on his beanbag, Henri beside him, and as he sat up, his muscles complaining at having slept in such uncomfortable conditions, he noticed Henri's hand resting on his thigh.

Just as Jeni gave up waiting and opened the door, Draco stood up as fast as he could, causing Henri's hand to hit the floor, and the boy to also wake up. Jeni thus entered to find Draco standing and staring strangely at Henri, who was nursing his hand.

"Um…Draco," Jeni said, walking over to the two boys and trying to ignore the weird feeling in the air. She held up the letter.

"You'd better get dressed then," he replied once he'd read it.

"Oh," Jeni said. "So it's safe?"

"Of course."

"Right…" Jeni went back to her room; remembering first that she had forgotten to ask Draco about breakfast, and then that there was a large cupboard of snacks in her room. She opened it only to find a tray with some toast, orange juice and a banana, which was, coincidentally (or not), exactly what she'd wanted to eat.

Nibbling on a toast triangle, she let herself into the wardrobe to pick out an outfit, finish eating and brush her hair, spelling it into neat curls afterwards – a trick she'd taught herself long ago out of necessity.

It was in this way that half an hour later, Draco had left her outside the third library which was a floor down from their rooms, but not too far away.

For a few moments, she could do nothing but stare at the door. After all, she had no idea why this beautiful, pure-blood witch wanted to see her, or what supposedly important thing she had to impart. But she couldn't turn back now, and curiosity more than anything else lifted her hand to knock on the tall, dark wooden door. A voice from within responded, and before she could find a handle, the door opened itself.

Jeni blinked as she entered; trying to adjust her eyes to how dark it was inside. The room appeared to not have any windows, and was lit only by a large fire, by the light of which she could see that the walls were covered with books. In the middle of the room were some couches and seats, upon one of which sat Scarlet Zabini.

"Jeni," she said invitingly, "come and sit down with me."

Jeni hesitated for a moment, the sound of the door closing itself behind her with an air of finality serving only to make her more nervous. Yet she did as instructed, sitting a careful distance from Lady Zabini. Luckily she did not have to speak, as the woman began straight away.

"For many years I have thought about how I would ever tell you if the time came that we met," she said. "And to be honest, I still haven't come up with a suitable plan. But the best place to start is usually the beginning, and so there is a story that I'm going to tell you." Scarlet took a deep breath.

"When I was at Hogwarts myself, many years ago, the social and blood divides were much stronger than they are now. My parents had moved from Germany before I was born, but despite being foreign I managed to be well accepted due to my family being pureblood, and rich. I was in Ravenclaw, but many of my friends were Slytherins – or, I should say, the children of my parents' friends were Slytherins. The year before I started school, my parents had signed a betrothal contract with the Zabinis. Their son Christian, to whom I am now married, was in the same year as Lucius Malfoy and many of the others here, which meant that I barely knew him – he was in his seventh year when I entered my first.

"There was one point during my school years where I felt the restrictions imposed by our society to be almost unbearable. I was in my sixth year, and Ravenclaw was with Gryffindor for transfiguration. For the most part I'd never really liked Gryffindors – always rushing into things with such overconfidence… but there was one in that class who stood out to me, and, well, let's just say that the feeling was mutual. Obviously though, there could never be anything between us – apart from the fact that I was already betrothed, his family wasn't that well-to-do, and I had no hope of changing my parents' minds." She paused to take a drink from the glass beside her on the table. Jeni wondered why the woman was telling her this story, but she figured that there would be a point to it eventually, and in any case, she was sure it would eventually lead to the reason she was sitting there.

"And so I had no choice but to put him behind me once I'd left school. Christian and I were married that summer, and within a year I was pregnant with Blaise. Marriage was more painfully boring than anything I'd ever imagined, and so I spent a lot of time trying to think of a way to escape. After Blaise was born, I became depressed. I was trapped in a marriage with a man I didn't love and who didn't love me, much less care about me, especially since I'd already produced the required son. Even though I loved Blaise, the pressure of my life had gotten to me so much that one day I did what I'd always planned to. I ran away." Scarlet stopped, and stared into the fire. "I was lucky, because on Diagon Alley I ran into a man – the boy from sixth year transfiguration. He'd become an auror – the need was high since the war had already begun, and they were signing up anyone who would join. Even though Diagon Alley was a reasonably safe place, Voldemort's followers were becoming more and more daring with their attacks, and as soon as I told him what had happened and why I was there, he took me back to his apartment, which was at least a great deal safer." She stopped again. Jeni was starting to suspect that she knew where this was going.

"It was only a matter of days before Christian's friends found me. Jonathan tried to stop them taking me back," Jeni froze at the mention of her father's name, "but I didn't want him to get hurt – and I knew that my time was up. They didn't touch me, but once I was back home Christian was determined that I would regret everything I had done." She subconsciously touched the scar on her neck. "He was furious that I had insulted and disgraced him in such a manner. And when he found out that I was pregnant…he tried everything to make me have a miscarriage, from poisoning me to pushing me down the stairs. Eventually he gave up; he must have decided that covering up about the baby after it was born was safer than a potentially dead wife. And now, I'm glad that he did."

Jeni now had a very strong suspicion that something far stranger than she had ever expected was about to happen. This was confirmed when Scarlet held out her hand, palm facing Jeni, and waited, watching her with an unreadable expression. Jeni hesitated, then reached out like she assumed she was meant to. When their hands were still three inches apart, a silver bolt shot between them like static electricity, pulling them both forward and locking their hands together. Jeni gasped as she felt a sudden pain in her heart. Tears began to trickle down her face as she threw herself into the arms of the woman she now knew was her mother.

Scarlet held her daughter tightly for the first time in her life, her face also wet with tears. "When you were born," she continued, feeling the need to finish the story, "you were given to your father straight away, with the instructions that he was to come up with a plausible reason for your existence or you would both be dead. I truly believed I'd never see you again. Thankfully, after that I found that I did have a reason to live; raising my son. I was determined that he would grow up the right way, and Draco too, since he doesn't have the most loving of relationships with his parents."

"But…I don't understand. Why didn't they…"

"'Get rid of you'?" Scarlet suggested. She nudged Jeni's chin up. "Pure-blooded babies are precious things," she said. "And with the amount of inbreeding that goes on, the fact that neither of your parents are English made you _very_ special indeed."

Jeni thought about everything she'd just heard for a moment. "Dad told me you were dead," she said shortly. "He said you were a muggle and that you were killed by Deatheaters just after I was born."

"I'm not surprised," Scarlet replied. "I'm sure he was just trying to make sure you'd never try to find me; he knows how dangerous it was…how dangerous it _is_." She pulled away to look Jeni in the eye. "Jeni, you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone about this. No one can know. Especially given who your father is and what he's done. He's also gone more than out of his way to make an enemy of Lucius. If it weren't for his fortune Jonathan would definitely have gotten him in Azkaban by now."

Jeni thought for a moment. "What about Draco?"

"Draco already knows. I asked him to watch over you this year - with the upcoming plans for Christmas Eve it's likely that your father and his team will get involved again and I wanted to be sure you'd be safe. But I'm afraid I may have put you in danger by getting Draco to bring you here. It's just that I wanted to meet you so much…"

"Draco said I'd be safe," Jeni reassured her, "it's alright."

Scarlet smiled. "I don't doubt it," she said. "You'd better go, they'll be missing you."

Jeni got up reluctantly, wondering how many hours they'd been talking, and said goodbye to her new-found mother. Upstairs, she was surprised to hear Henri's door slam and see Emily stalking off in the opposite direction to her. However, whatever had happened, she thought Henri would need his space for the moment, and resolved to check on him later.

She knocked briefly on Draco's door before entering. He wasn't in the room, so she went over to the window and stepped out onto the balcony. Below, the other guests were still doing exactly as they had been that morning, the little croquet hoops running around on the grass to try and evade the players. Jeni could see a few people in the distance who looked like they were playing Quidditch. It seemed so strange to her that the world could carry on just like before when her whole life had changed. That silver spark – her finger was bruised where it had entered, indicating the sheer power of their meeting after so long. The feeling in her chest was still there, but she'd now figured out that it was more of a 'complete' feeling than anything foreboding.

An odd sensation in her leg made her look down to see Draco's leopard rubbing his head against her. She knelt quickly and hugged him as tightly as she dared, unsure of how delicate snow leopards were. Jeni felt him shift under her hands and suddenly he was hugging her back, equally fiercely. She felt the tears she'd cried before spill out again, all the built-up pain for the mother she'd never known. She knew why he hadn't told her; obviously he couldn't have - she'd never have believed him.

* * *

Some time later, Jeni's tummy rumbled. They were still sitting together on the floor of the balcony. Her tears had long run dry, but she remained clinging to the boy she loved. Outside, the guests had been forced inside when the rain had started, and it was pouring, as though the clouds were crying in her place. Eventually, Draco pulled Jeni to her feet and led her back inside, to her room. Neither had spoken the whole time, and felt no need to start now. Leaving Jeni in a seat by the fire, Draco opened the cupboard of food and got her something to eat, since she'd missed lunch. He then had to sit and nearly force-feed her, since despite her stomach's loud protests, Jeni was not hungry. In fact, she wasn't feeling much of anything. She was thinking very hard about all the implications of her mother's confession. Plus, she now not only had a mother, but a brother, too.

"Does Blaise know?" Jeni asked, the first words she'd spoken since leaving the library.

"If he doesn't, he will soon," Draco replied. "Scarlet will tell him, and he can be trusted. He's like my brother, after all."

"I've never seen you around with him much."

Draco smiled. "If you had a brother at school, would you hang around with him?"

"Well, who knows? ... I wonder what dad will say."

"Are you sure you should tell him?"

"I know she said not to tell anyone, but he's my father, and they were in love. Maybe they still are. I never noticed him go out with anyone else…"

"That's sweet."

"Yeah, I suppose. It's sad that they'll never be together."

"Sometimes that's just the way things turn out."

Jeni bit her lip. "Draco, do you think we'll be like that? That we'll never see each other again after you finish school?"

"No, I don't," he replied determinedly. "After all, your father can't object given who he fell in love with, and I don't really care what my parents think."

"I think they care though."

Draco smirked. "Hopefully they won't be around long enough to care."

Jeni didn't respond. Normally, she would object to wishing parents dead, but under the circumstances…her mind suddenly turned back to what had happened before.

"Do you know what happened between Henri and Emily earlier? I saw her storm out of his room."

"No, I don't. Did you want to go and see him?"

"Perhaps I should. I wonder what it could be…" Jeni stood and went to the door, walking out almost dazedly; in need of a distraction from her own mixed up feelings. Draco let her go.

Across the hall, Jeni was knocking on Henri's door without much luck. After a while, she gave up and opened it, surprised to discover it wasn't locked. Inside, Henri was sitting on a couch facing the fire, looking forlorn. She wandered over and sat next to him. He glanced at her and smiled bemusedly.

"You don't look in much of a state to be offering comfort," he said, referring to her red eyes and tear-stained cheeks.

Jeni's tummy attempted to complain again. "You don't have one of those snack cupboards in here do you?" she asked.

Henri pointed.

"I may not be in the best state to offer comfort," she said, getting up to help herself, "but I'm in the perfect state to be distracted, so go ahead. Do you want anything?"

Henri shook his head. "I told Emily something that I probably shouldn't have, but I couldn't _not_ have, now that I'm sure…well, at least _reasonably_ sure… and I think she's taken it as a personal insult."

"Um, alright," Jeni said, returning to his side with a muesli bar. She was sure Henri would explain in his own time, after all.

"Jeni, I want to tell you, but you can't tell Draco, alright?"

"If you say so. Besides, I'm currently open for secret trading," she said with a smile.

"Oh really?"

"Yes. But you first."

"Well, given how much effort you and Draco put into getting Emily and I together, it almost seems like this is throwing it back in your faces."

"If you change your mind, you change your mind," Jeni said comfortingly, remembering the bruise she'd sustained from the stunt.

"The thing is, that before all that, I _thought_ that I liked her. I mean, it was nice when we were going out and everything, but I think now that maybe I just liked being with someone, and…I'm not..."

Henri was watching Jeni closely for any reaction that might prove disagreeable. Jeni was just waiting for him to get on with it.

"Jeni, I'm now …_quite_ certain that…I don't like girls." Jeni frowned. "In _that way_," Henri continued.

"…oh," Jeni said shortly. "Really?"

"Yes."

"Well, that's good then, I suppose," Jeni said.

"It is?" Henri replied, slightly shocked at how cheerfully she was taking it.

"It's good that you know."

"Ah, yes."

She laughed. "I guess Emily must have thought that she'd turned you. But…why can't I tell Draco?"

"Well, Draco's a little…homophobic. I'm not sure how he'd react."

"I see. I suppose that makes sense, given his upbringing. He has issues enough with the whole blood-purity thing."

"Exactly. So you understand…?"

"Yes, of course. I'm sure you'll tell him when you're ready…what about your parents?"

"I already told mum. But my dad…well, he's not exactly so open. And being that I'm his only son, I think he was really looking forward to having grandchildren. He wouldn't take it too well at all."

"Oh dear."

"So you can see this goes beyond Emily's reaction. I'm not worried that she'll tell everyone or anything, but…it seems a bit indicative of everyone else. Anyway, this is supposed to be a trade, isn't it? What's your big news?"

"Oh. Well, the thing is…and I'll keep this short…you know that letter that I got this morning?"

"Yes…"

"Well, it was from Scarlet Zabini, and she asked me to meet her because she had to tell me something very important." Jeni paused, but Henri didn't interrupt. "Which was that she's my mother," she continued, wanting to get it over with quickly.

"Oh my God! That's great news!" Henri cried, hugging her, then backing off a little. "It is, isn't it?"

Jeni laughed. "Yes, it is," she reassured him. "It's just all so sudden." She went on to fill Henri in on the particulars. "But you must keep it a secret – I wasn't supposed to tell anyone."

"Of course I will. As long as you do the same for me, that is!" They both grinned.

* * *

Several hours later they were forced to stop talking to get ready for dinner. For Jeni this meant another dress, pink this time, another hairstyle, pair of shoes, and a different magically appearing drawer of jewellery. The note this time read: _These are a loan, love Draco_. Jeni had by now figured out that the jewels she'd worn the night before had been a gift from her mother, as the handwriting on both notes matched.

Draco was, once more and as expected, dressed to match her. They went out and down to dinner, collecting Henri on the way, but not a sight of Emily. Jeni was starting to think that she should try to talk to the girl, despite their past…differences. Perhaps it should be left for a while. And after all, she wasn't sure if Henri wanted to stay friends with Emily or not. Eventually she decided against any attempt at intervention. As it was, she and Draco had probably caused enough problems already.

The evening proceeded much like the last. Jeni snuck glances down the table to where Blaise was seated with the other Slytherins and wondered if she would ever be accepted by them. It was certainly a strange thought – not one that had occurred to her before. But now that she knew who she was, or more correctly, who her mother was, she couldn't help but wonder if she was really where she belonged. Was Ravenclaw really a middle point between Gryffindor and Slytherin? Most children ended up in the house of their parents, or of one of their parents. She, however, had not. And whilst she'd previously felt that she belonged more in Ravenclaw than anywhere else, now she wasn't quite so sure.

However, what worried Jeni the most was whether Blaise would accept her as his younger sister when he found out. After all, he'd been an only child his whole life. Jeni could do no more than thank the stars that she wasn't his older half-brother instead. _That_ would create real tensions.

Jeni sighed, poking the food on her plate with her fork, and earning a disapproving glance from Draco. What she really felt like eating, for no apparent reason, was cake. Probably because she felt confused, and sweet food could be so comforting. Draco placed his hand reassuringly on her leg under the table. That helped some.

When the meal was over, Lucius Malfoy announced that they could move to the adjacent hall for dancing, making Jeni nervous once more, as her skills would be tested again.

Everything started off alright; she had the first few songs with Draco. However, they were then approached by Blaise. _Oh gods_, thought Jeni, _please don't make me dance with someone else_...

"May I?" Blaise asked Draco.

"Of course," Draco replied, smiling in his all knowing way, and going off to find another partner.

Jeni gulped. Blaise was terribly tall, and had a very imposing presence. He offered his hand without a word and she took it, feeling a little like a cornered mouse.

They began a waltz, and Jeni tried to look at him and not look at him at the same time. The dancing was easy enough – Blaise was a very good leader – but all the same she felt highly uncomfortable.

"My mother shared some interesting news with me today," Blaise began, "and I must say it took me entirely by surprise." Jeni looked up at him worriedly. "Not _bad_ surprised, don't look so scared. But you must admit that we look nothing alike." This was certainly something she'd noticed. Blaise took entirely after his father, so much so that it seemed a little strange. And she herself probably looked more like her father than her mother, meaning that for half-siblings they couldn't have looked more different.

"That's true," Jeni responded. "I had a hard time believing it myself, but then…" she was reluctant to share what had happened with someone she barely knew, relative or not.

"Mum told me what happened, I think she was as shocked as you." The music ended, and Blaise lead her over to some chairs along the wall so they could continue talking. He sighed. "Obviously I was too young to remember anything from then – that or they played with my mind a little," he remarked ruefully.

Jeni's eyes widened.

"It's more than likely. If I had any memory of her being pregnant, then I'd be sure to ask about it when I was older. But I suppose I have you and your father to thank for her having been such a good mother to me. I think if she hadn't seen him again she probably would have killed herself – my father's not the best husband he could be."

Jeni touched Blaise's arm lightly. "Our parents have a big influence on our lives. Your father probably didn't have someone like your…like our mum to look after him."

"Luckily she's there for Draco too – and you of course."

"Me?" Jeni asked.

"Well, sure. I guess you don't realise it, but Draco's changed so much since the start of this year, since mum convinced him to start watching you. At first he was a little reluctant, but he came around pretty fast, once he'd seen you and all. He's never been so happy before. In fact, I don't think he's ever really had a steady relationship. After all, in the past he could always get any girl he wanted, but I guess it was different with you."

"For a time," Jeni said with a smile.

"For a time, yes, but I've never seen a girl resist him for so long. Admittedly, you're not really the type he usually went for, but that's also an improvement in my eyes."

"Why am I so different?" Jeni asked, feeling a little insulted.

"Well…correct me if I'm wrong, but you're _pure_." Jeni blushed, realising immediately what he was referring to. "You're not like Emily or Pansy. You don't throw yourself at any good looking guy who comes along with no plans of having an actual relationship with him. Draco got a bit caught up with that type of girl. It's hard not to when you're a teenaged Slytherin. It fits in with our values - trusting no one; taking what you want, when you want it; and generally only with thought to that moment. Relationships are dangerous, you're too exposed to the other person, they could find out your weaknesses and use them against you."

"What about you?" Jeni asked, wondering if all girls had these kinds of conversations with their brothers.

"I was like that too. The _teenaged_ part is very important to the whole thing I suppose, all those hormones. So there you go. _That's_ why you're special."

Jeni thought about this for a moment.

"And so I suppose that's why Draco's attracted to you," Blaise continued. "You provide him with an escape. He _knows_ he can trust you. And I do too."

"Have you found your 'escape'?"

Blaise looked towards the girl who was making her way over to them with Draco. "Sometimes, you just need to find someone else who has also decided they've had enough." He stood up and took Pansy's hand, and they made their way over to where the others were dancing.

"Have a good talk?"

"Yes," Jeni replied, getting up. "I just feel so…happy," she said. "I mean, my family's now twice as big. And I feel so much better now for having talked to Blaise. I was worried about it all, I didn't know how he felt or how he'd react. But everything seems to be going well. It's such a relief."

"I'm glad. Now, come on!" Draco said, pulling her to her feet. "I've hardly been able to dance with you all night!"

During the remainder of the evening, Jeni was only 'borrowed' from Draco once more, by Theodore Nott, who also seemed to believe Jeni had 'changed Draco for the better'. "It's you that he relies on to find the strength he needs for what he's about to do." Theodore had told her. Jeni was starting to think that the Slytherins were a much tighter group than she'd previously believed.

It was quite late by the time they left, although many of the adults looked like they had no intention of stopping their festivities any time soon. Jeni was so exhausted from the day's excitement that she took herself straight off to bed.

* * *

Jeni slept late the next morning, then got herself breakfast from the cupboard. Once she was dressed, she knocked on Draco's door. Luckily this morning, he answered it himself.

"Good morning!" Jeni chirped.

"You're going to have to get changed," Draco told her. "I thought we could go for a ride."

Jeni suddenly noticed what he was wearing – riding pants tucked into high black boots and a loose shirt, slightly unbuttoned. He was holding his cloak.

"But," Jeni objected, taken by surprise and completely ignoring the fact that Draco hadn't even bid her good morning, "I don't think I have any appropriate clothes!"

"You're not very curious, are you?"

"Well…I…"

"In fact, I would think you haven't even gone through all the drawers in your dressing room!"

"Oh…but…"

Draco turned her around and pushed her back into the room. "Go on," he said. "I'll wait in here for you."

Jeni sighed and went over to the wardrobe. It took a few minute of rummaging through drawers she that she was quite sure hadn't been there before until she found what she thought Draco was referring to; clothes markedly similar to his own, but a little more fitted and feminine. She grabbed her own cloak and headed out, finding Draco on the balcony.

He held up his broom. "Let's go," he said, giving her a moment to get on behind him. He steered them over the railing and then they were plummeting downwards. Jeni was determined not to scream, but she couldn't help emitting a slight "Eep!" as Draco pulled up just short of the ground, which was covered in fresh snow from the night before. They headed on over to the buildings Jeni had noticed in the distance, and set down there. Entering one, the walked down a corridor along one side until they reached a particular stall.

"This," Draco said, introducing the strangely coloured occupant, "is Nightwish, my horse."

"He's beautiful," Jeni breathed, as the horse moved towards them and Draco reached out his hand to stroke him. Nightwish was pure black – but his mane and tail were white, along with the star on his head. Jeni had never seen a horse like him.

"And along here," Draco continued, leading her further on past several more horses, "is Snowflake. Any time you're here, she's yours."

Jeni's jaw dropped. The mare was gorgeous, a brilliant white just like the snow outside, even in the shade. "Wow," was all she could manage to say.

Draco smirked, and clicked his fingers. A couple of house elves appeared in each of the two stalls, holding out their tiny hands to levitate saddles and bridles. Jeni was almost bouncing with excitement, which Draco seemed to find highly amusing.

Soon enough they were leading the horses outside. Jeni happily found that she didn't need any help mounting.

"Have you ridden before?" Draco asked her.

"Yes, a few times," Jeni replied. When she looked over she was temporarily stunned by how handsome and natural he looked on horse. His hair was waving gently in the breeze and he just looked so…noble, she decided.

Glancing around at her surroundings, wondering where they would go, Jeni turned back to discover that Draco had taken off by himself. She smirked and tightened her grip, urging Snowflake on after him, her cloak flying out behind her. They caught up easily and overtook the others, aiming for the lake Jeni could see in the distance.

All too soon Jeni felt they might just end up underwater – she pulled up hard on the reigns and Snowflake reared up, trying to stop quickly, so that Jeni had to lunge forward and grab hold of her mane to keep from sliding off. Nightwish skidded to a halt in front of them, sending up clouds of white.

On the lake, which wasn't too close, Jeni could see a small group of boats that seemed to be racing each other, urged on by the wands of the wizards spread along the edge of the water. She couldn't help but wonder at the anachronistic nature of the activities aristocratic purebloods indulged in. All of a sudden, one boat burst into flames, sinking quickly. Another almost instantly exploded.

Draco chuckled. "That's Slytherin revenge for you; swift and deadly. Always expect consequences."

Jeni smiled. Whilst the message was a little scary, the current display was very amusing, as the two men began to argue over the boats.

"Let's go," Draco said, turning his horse quickly to shoot back the way they'd come. Jeni and Snowflake followed, but were unable to overtake. They followed a seemingly random path, not back in towards the stables, but further away from the manor. Soon they were far out of sight of any of the other guests, the snow pristine and unbroken, and quickly approaching some trees.

The horses slowed as they neared the woods, right down to walking pace, and began to pick their way through the trees and over the roots.

"There's nothing to worry about," Draco commented as they went, "Father keeps all the dangerous animals on the other side of the property."

"Good to know," Jeni said, suddenly much more worried than she had been before.

After a short time, they reached a small clearing. Draco dismounted and Jeni followed suit.

"Right then," Draco said. "It's time for the fun part."

"What fun part?" Jeni asked as Draco produced a long strip of black material from his pocket. He tied it over her eyes, and then led her further into the woods, guiding her over roots and stones. She felt a strange change in the air, and then finally, they stopped.

"This fun part," Draco finally replied, removing the blindfold.

Jeni gasped as her sight suddenly returned. Laid out before her were a huge picnic rug and basket, and a large pile of floor-cushions. The darkness of the canopy was alleviated by tiny hovering lights in the branches, and the small space was surrounded by flowers. Jeni realised that the change she'd felt was them entering a bubble of some sort, where it was warm inside. She turned and threw her arms around Draco, hugging him tightly. He led her over to the blanket and sat them both down comfortably, taking her cloak, and then began to unpack the basket.

Jeni just grew more amazed as it went on. There were grapes and mango cubes and strawberries, a pot of dipping chocolate and little cupcakes with coloured icing and sugar-flowers on top.

"Are we really going to eat all of this?" Jeni asked.

"Depends how hungry you are, kitten." Draco picked up a grape and held it to her lips.

"My god!" Jeni exclaimed a moment later. "They're so sweet!"

Draco smiled, popping one into his own mouth. "And these," he said, picking up a strawberry and dipping it into the chocolate, "are my favourite." He held it once more for her to eat, then laughed.

"What?" Jeni asked, once she'd swallowed.

"You have a bit of chocolate on you mouth," Draco told her, leaning forward to lick it off before taking the opportunity to kiss her.

"Mmm…" Draco said as the kiss ended. "You taste like strawberries." Jeni blushed. "This was definitely a good idea."

Jeni decided to be bold for once in a while, and feed Draco a strawberry herself. Somehow in the process she managed to get chocolate on her fingers – Draco took it upon himself to clean each one with his tongue, without breaking eye-contact, making Jeni blush harder. His pupils were dilated slightly due to the low light, and the predatory way he was looking at her made a shiver go through her, similar to when they'd only just started going out. In fact, Draco seemed to be rapidly forgetting that there was any food there at all, in favour of other thoughts.

Finally Jeni managed to drag her eyes away. Whatever it was that Draco was thinking, and she had some suspicions after her conversation with Blaise, she didn't think she was ready at all. Determinedly she forced her attention on the mango, picking up a fork to find out if it was as delicious as the other fruits. Inevitably it was, and Draco, seeming to sense the mood, joined in her enthusiasm.

Hours later they lay together, most of the food eaten, snuggled up against each other. Jeni could still taste the sweet spun sugar of the cupcakes and was craving another strawberry, but couldn't bring herself to move.

Luckily, wandless magic has its advantages, and soon the exact thing she desired was drifting lazily over to her.

"Thanks Draco," Jeni said to the boy who looked to be dozing, plucking the strawberry from the air.

"Huh?" Draco said, stirring.

"You _did_ just levitate that to me, didn't you?" Jeni sat up.

"Levitate what?"

"This," she said, holding up the berry.

"No, I didn't."

"But…if you didn't do it…then…"

"Maybe you did it yourself," Draco suggested. "I guess it depends how badly you wanted one."

"I wonder if I could do it again," Jeni said, thinking aloud.

She closed her eyes and thought as hard as she could about strawberries. How they were red and round and sweet and had cute little seeds on the outside and they were soft and juicy and good with chocolate…

"Kitten, open your eyes," Draco said a moment later.

She did so, only to discover that several berries were now orbiting her head. "Oh," she said, releasing the thought and making them all drop to the ground. Draco managed to catch most of them, eating a couple. The rest Jeni quickly collected and put back in the bowl.

"Well, that was…" she searched for the right word, "…unexpected."

"Indeed it was," Draco agreed amusedly.

Jeni flopped back on the cushions. "I suppose we probably need to be going back soon."

"Perhaps. But maybe not."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm sleepy and you're warm," he answered, putting an arm over her and pulling her close.

And that, thought Jeni, was a perfectly good reason to stay lying there for a while longer.

* * *

It was some time before the necessity of returning to the manor to prepare for dinner became a reality. Reluctantly they got up, Draco saying that they could leave everything there, and donned their cloaks once more to venture back out into the cold. The horses were still waiting patiently, and they rode swiftly back to the stables, then flew back up to their rooms.

Jeni decided she wanted to have a chocolate and vanilla bath, and try out some more taps to find cool fish-alternatives. Then, once again, although it wasn't getting boring in the least, she went into her dressing room to find that evening's outfit. Not much later, she was done. The dress was a lovely soft gold, with citrine jewellery. Her hair hung straight down her back with small braids holding some back from her face. She went out to meet Draco and go down to dinner.

Whilst she still saw the attraction in dressing up, Jeni was starting to get tired of the dinners. Although this time they were seated with the other teenagers, since Jeni was beginning to be accepted, the length and ceremony of the meals was trying.

This time, dinner was followed by a play – a thoroughly pretentious and sleep-inducing one, Jeni thought, declaring the benefits of 'purity of blood' and 'obeying one's lord'. Or at least, it was something like that, as she found herself frequently tuning out. But it was clear what Lucius's motives had been in commissioning the thing.

And so it was that the day ended and Jeni took herself off to bed, entirely exhausted and fighting sleep the whole way. However, despite her tiredness, worry and nerves about the following day – Christmas Eve, and thus the ball and _the dance_ – kept her awake long into the night.

* * *

And so we finally reach the end of chapter 22! This has taken me almost two weeks to write…because I'm lazy. :P

Now, that bit about _The Picture of Dorian Gray_. It's an old black and white movie where there's this young man, Dorian, and he has a portrait done of himself. Someone mentions to him how wonderfully young he looks, and how great it would be if one could stay young forever, and so he wishes that the portrait could age instead of him. Gradually it comes true, and becomes hideous as it reflects all the terrible things he has done in his life, so he hides it away. Some more stuff happens…and there's an ending, which I found a little amusing, actually. Don't want to spoil it though.

_Singing in the Rain_, for anyone who doesn't know, is about the introduction of talking movies…_Casablanca_ I haven't seen…but it's also an old movie so…yeah.

Um…I don't think there are any other things I need to explain. But there is something I'd like to clarify so that no one goes getting any ideas, and that is that when Draco and Henri wake up, it's meant to hint only that Draco is homophobic, not that Henri is gay, and definitely not that he likes Draco, because he doesn't, I'll say that right now.

Please review!!!


	23. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

If Only

By Jeni Draco's Girl

Once more there has been a depressingly long break between chapters, eh? But I'm not really able to manage more than twice yearly updates. At least the chapters are longer than they used to be!

To recap, Jeni has discovered that not only is her mother alive, but she also has a half brother in Blaise. The last chapter left off on the night before Christmas Eve: the day of the ball and her performance dance with Draco to celebrate his coming of age.

* * *

Jeni stood by the window, the last glow of sunset lingering on the horizon. She was held, stiffly straight, by the magnificent blue ball gown which she'd been so looking forward to wearing, and as she stared out over the grounds, she saw a man appear below. 

How strange, she thought. Wasn't the manor like Hogwarts, in that no one should be able to apparate within the grounds?

Perhaps it wasn't.

She turned her attention back to the man who was now storming up the path towards the entrance. And as she looked closer, and noticed his familiar stride, and the colour of his hair, she suddenly realised who it was.

Her father.

Her father had come. He knew she was here. Jeni began to panic as she pulled open the window, just in time to hear him cry "Malfoy!"

"Malfoy!" he called again. "Hand over my daughter!"

The doors opened with a bang and she heard Lucius reply.

"What are you and your lot up to now, McNite?" he sneered.

Jeni saw her father pull out his wand and spun around, determined to go down and do something before the situation escalated beyond all repair. But instead she crashed into Draco, who seemed to have appeared behind her. "Don't," he told her, his face blank. "You'll only make it worse."

Unable to move with Draco holding her so tightly, Jeni had no choice but to turn back to the window – just in time to see a flash of green light hit her father square in the chest.

She screamed as he crumpled to the ground, thrashing in Draco's grasp until he released her and turned to run, out the door and down the corridor, down flights and flights of stairs, finally making it, somehow, out into the foyer and out the door.

Streaking past Lucius as he stood in the entrance, she almost tripped as she raced down the steps and along the gravel path to where her father lay, lifeless.

She collapsed next to him, her skirts billowing around her, her hands on his chest, his face. "No," Jeni whispered. "Dad, you can't be dead. _You can't be_!" she cried desperately, face upturned toward the ever darkening sky. "Not now, not like this…" Her body seemed almost to deflate as she sobbed against his chest, hands clutching at his clothes.

Some moments later, she felt a cool hand on her shoulder. Turning her face and blinking through the tears that still flowed from her eyes, she looked up to see Lucius standing over her. He removed his hand only to offer it to help her up.

She didn't take it.

"Come," he said gently, his face at once commanding yet fatherly. "Come. You belong with us now."

As the words left his mouth, Jeni's vision began to blur.

Someone was calling her name, urgently.

"No!" she insisted. "I can't leave him! I don't want to go with you!"

"Jeni," the voice continued, and there was firm pressure on her shoulders. "Jeni, wake up!"

"What?" she murmured through the darkness that had engulfed her.

Jeni forced open her eyes to see Draco leaning over her, his face softly lit by moonlight from through the window.

"You were screaming," he told her. "Are you alright?"

"I don't…" She stopped, wincing at the pain speaking caused in her throat. She raised a hand to rub her eyes, and discovered her cheeks were wet.

"My dad…" she whispered, sitting up. "Lucius…he…"

Jeni glanced at Draco's enquiring expression and briefly related the events of her dream.

"It's alright now," Draco said comfortingly, rubbing her back. "It was just a nightmare. You'd best try to get back to sleep – we've a big day ahead of us."

"Draco, please," Jeni pleaded as he stood, her fingers catching his sleeve. "Please don't leave me."

Draco looked over at her, and then sat back down, moving over to lie next to her. He held her close and murmured comforting words, stroking her hair until she fell asleep once again. He lay there a little longer, listening her soft breathing, until he too drifted off, feeling more than a little disturbed by what she had dreamt.

* * *

When Jeni awoke the next morning, Draco was gone. Glancing at the clock, she realised that it was actually quite late already. She threw off the covers and got out of bed, making it halfway to the door before flashes from her dream pushed their way up through her mind. Taking a deep breath and shoving them away, she left her room and found Draco, sitting on the couch, deep in discussion with himself. 

At least, that's how it seemed until a high pitched voice told her he was actually talking to Poppy, the house elf, who was hidden from her view.

"Happy birthday!" Jeni called over to him.

"Good morning," Draco said, standing and coming over to greet her. Jeni leaned up to kiss him. "Poppy and I were just discussing the finer points of your dress for tonight."

"Tonight?" Jeni repeated, all thought of Draco's birthday forgotten. "But I thought it was finished?"

"That," Draco replied, "is your ball gown. You weren't expecting to dance our tango in _that_, were you?"

"Oh," Jeni said shortly. "Then what…?"

Poppy hurried forward at Draco's gesture, and with a wave of her hand and a loud CRACK! there stood a dressmaker's model, upon which was a black dress.

"You have _got_ to be kidding," Jeni said flatly.

"I'm afraid not," Draco replied, although he didn't look very apologetic. "It has to allow for movement, you know." He was referring, Jeni assumed, to the slit that ran far too far up one side of the dress for Jeni's comfort.

"Well, what about that?" she retorted, indicating the extremely low V-neck. "You can't tell me _that's_ to allow for movement!"

"It fits with the style." Draco didn't seem in the least perturbed by Jeni's indignance.

Jeni looked once more at the dress. It did, she had to admit, look appropriate. The slit swooped down either way to open out the skirt more with a slightly ruffled edge, the straps narrowing as they went up to form a simple, yet flattering, halter neck.

"Well, I suppose it's not _so_ bad…" she said, still doubtful.

"Wonderful. Now, why don't you go and try it on, so Poppy can make the final adjustments, and then we'll go and practise for a while."

"Don't forget breakfast in there somewhere," Jeni called back over her shoulder as she was ushered towards the dressing room.

"I'm sure we can squeeze it in," Draco replied, just before the door shut.

* * *

As expected, the dress fitted perfectly, and was not only flattering, but it made her feel a little more confident, too. 

Once she was back in normal clothes, they moved the couches out of the way in the lounge area and practised for a few hours – Jeni having first secured something to eat, of course.

It was then that Draco suggested they go and try it in the ballroom.

"The ballroom?" Jeni found herself repeating Draco again.

"Yes. You need to have a go getting down those stairs in heels."

Jeni sighed, and felt the butterflies that had lain dormant in her tummy for so long spring back to life. "There'll definitely be no one there?"

"Definitely," Draco assured her.

With a second sigh, though this was a slightly more determined one, she went to retrieve the black stilettos that matched the dress, and they set off for the ballroom, a path that was familiar by now.

The stairs Draco had mentioned were a double staircase at one end of the room, either side of which curved out and then back in, so the ends almost met up again. They originated from a balcony which ran around the second floor of the gaping hall, and where guests could stand to watch the festivities below. Jeni was going to have to get down these stairs twice – the first time before they performed their dance, and the second in her blue gown, when Draco would be 'introduced' as having come of age.

They were now standing at the very top, and Jeni was feeling increasingly nervous, just imagining what it would be like when the hall was filled with people.

"Off you go then," Draco prompted.

Jeni glanced at him, not having expected to be doing it alone, before resting her hand on the banister and starting off, holding herself with all the grace she could muster. It was certainly not as easy as she had hoped it would be, and she stumbled a few times, clutching the railing for support. Why the stairs had to be so long, or the heels so high, she couldn't imagine. The only thought she could draw upon for comfort was that this was about Draco, and hopefully all attention would be directed at him, and how good he was at throwing a girl around a dance floor. Or in any case, that was the most sense Jeni could force out of it.

It took several tries before Jeni made it all the way down without almost plummeting to her death, and several more before she could do it with the certain swing in her hips which Draco had demonstrated with alarmingly accuracy.

Thankfully, after she'd managed to demonstrate her proficiency to Draco's satisfaction, he suggested that they relax for the rest of the afternoon – or at least what remained of it before they would have to start getting ready. Jeni wholeheartedly agreed – there's only so many times a person can walk up and down a flight of stairs before it becomes apparent that no further progress will be made.

There were, as it turned out, only a few hours to be spared. Henri was nowhere to be found – Jeni hoped he was feeling better after his fight with Emily, and wasn't off sulking. They took their cloaks and went out with Draco's broom. He claimed flying was relaxing and after a few moments Jeni decided this was definitely true.

They flew out on a long circuit of the grounds surrounding the manor, although Draco told her that they were far more extensive than what she could see from there. The lake she had seen previously, where wizards had been racing their boats, was actually part of a far greater system of lakes, streams and fountains. Nearby were the stables, and a bit further out from that the woods that they had ridden through. The trees spread around all the way to the front of the property; where there was a long road leading, Jeni presumed, towards the entrance one came by if not by floo. The woods resumed their dominance of the landscape on the other side, and then there was a –

"That's not a…dragon, is it?" Jeni asked, awestruck. What she was referring to was, in actual fact, the jet of fire and smoke she'd just seen erupt from the trees' canopy in the distance.

"I told you father keeps the dangerous animals on this side," Draco replied, amused. "And it's not the only dragon he's got."

"Not the only…I don't think I really want to know what's over there," Jeni decided, turning her attention in the other direction, towards the manor which was quite a sight to behold in and of itself.

Really, Jeni thought, it's more of a castle than a manor. The building sprawled out over a vast chunk of land. The main body contained the ballroom and main entertaining rooms, Jeni knew, and probably a lot of other things. There were three wings extending off this centre – towards each side and out the back. Jeni didn't have a clue what rooms were contained in all this space, but one of the wings – the one stretching to the right of the entry from where they were – was the one where their rooms were located.

The roofline of the castle was nowhere near as erratic as that of Hogwarts. In the middle, the roof rose up to provide the hemispheric dome of the ballroom. Then, at the end of each wing was an elegant turret, each as big at least as Jeni's house. She sighed at the view, which really was spectacular, and leant forward against Draco's back as he flew them towards the turret at the end of their wing.

Inside, the air was dry and warm – unlike outside where it was freezing cold and there was the feeling of an eminent thunderstorm. As she closed her eyes and breathed the warm air in deeply, Jeni noticed the slight smell of smoke. All of a sudden, she didn't have the option of opening her eyes.

"You have a thing for blindfolds, don't you?" Jeni asked lightly.

"Perhaps," Draco replied, so close she could feel his breath on her ear and hear the smirk in his voice. "This way," he said, taking her hand.

They moved away from the entrance and into the main room, which Jeni hadn't seen before, so happy had she been just to be somewhere warm. It was only a short distance to go before she was steered to a sitting position on a soft fur rug. Draco released her hand and she guessed that she was allowed to look. Once she'd tugged off the strip of black fabric, Jeni found herself to be staring into the fire that she'd smelled just before. But Draco seemed to have disappeared. Looking around, Jeni saw a couple of armchairs placed further back from the fire than the rug, and some other pieces of furniture around the walls, which were broken up by high gothic windows against which the first smatterings of rain were falling.

"Draco?" Jeni called quietly. The room was silent except for the pattering of rain and the soft crackling of the fire. Jeni didn't know whether or not she should be worried – Draco couldn't have gone anywhere in those few seconds, could he? She shifted around where she was sitting to see if he was hiding in some dark corner, waiting to surprise her. But when she turned back, it was to see the snow leopard that she'd become familiar with sitting smugly next to her, as if he'd been there all that time.

Jeni sighed, irritated yet relieved. She shifted over to lie down on her tummy facing him, her chin resting on her hands.

"Think that was funny, do you?" she asked with a little smile. Draco's only response was to nudge his head against her cheek so hard, he knocked her off balance and she rolled over onto her back with a giggle to stare up at him upside down. Jeni reached up to scratch under his chin and then behind his ears. Draco purred loudly, causing her to giggle again, her pre-emptive stress about tonight slowly melting away.

Draco padded around to lie down next to her, and they snuggled closely together. It was warm and the light was dim – Jeni felt herself drifting off…

* * *

The next thing she was aware of was Draco waking her. The rain outside had stopped and it was time to get ready. 

They flew back down to the balcony outside Jeni's room, which was only a very short trip. Draco saw her into the dressing room where Poppy soon appeared with a crack, and then left to get ready himself. Once she had changed into the black dress, Poppy put her hair up with red roses. She took a deep breath as she looked at herself in the mirror, trying to calm the butterflies who were threatening to escape.

Draco was waiting when she finally emerged from the room, and they started off toward the ballroom.

The guests would already be waiting in the hall, having spent some time there already, socialising. As if they haven't been doing enough of that already these past few days, Jeni thought wryly.

The walk to the second floor behind the double doors that would open to the stairs was far too short for Jeni's liking. She could hear everyone inside talking, the chinking of glasses and the rustle of all the ball gowns. And then the doors were opening.

Draco went down first, swaggering his way to the bottom of the stairs like the Draco she remembered from before they'd gotten together. The voices became silent, and from the little she could see, everyone moved forward to crowd around the space at the bottom of the stairs.

And then it was her turn. Jeni closed her eyes as the music began and took another deep breath, pushing her fear away. She walked forward to the first step, holding herself as tall as she could, shoulders back, and looked down to see Draco wink up at her. The corner of her mouth tugged up into a little smirk, and she started down the stairs with newfound confidence, her fingers skimming the banister, her other hand holding the front of her skirt elegantly out of the way. She kept her attention on Draco, and managed to avoid looking out at all the people who were undoubtedly looking at her.

Jeni arrived at the bottom without advent.

She and Draco moved warily towards each other, not breaking eye contact. When they were within reach of one another, Draco put his right hand around Jeni's waist and pulled her close to him. Jeni looked down at his arm, as though shocked that he would dare touch her. She raised her left hand in a slow graceful arc to his shoulder, still not looking at him. Draco ran his fingertips down her right arm to her hand, then pulled it quickly into tango-hold – and the dance started.

* * *

The bang of the doors behind them prompted Jeni to release a relieved sigh. Then she laughed. She could still hear the approving applause of the audience and the raucous cheers of Draco's classmates ringing in her ears. 

Draco hugged her tightly and whispered "Well done" in her ear. Then, "Come on – we have to go back and get changed." He took her hand and Jeni held it tightly. She was still grinning, high on adrenaline from their performance.

They got back to their rooms quickly and separated at the door. Jeni went and stood before her ball gown where it was on the stand at the end of the room. She took off the dress she was wearing, rehanging it carefully, and then removed the blue gown as gently as she could. She stepped into it, avoiding stepping on the hem, and felt the familiar sensation of it zipping itself up.

Poppy materialised, with a crack that no longer surprised Jeni, to redo her hair into a more appropriate style. Jeni thought she noticed a flash of light behind her – a new drawer had appeared in the seat in the middle of the room. When Poppy had finished, she got up and went over to see what was in the drawer.

Inside was a short but thick silver snake chain, with a diamond pendant the size of a galleon; along with matching earrings. Poppy helped her put them on, and Jeni noticed a card tucked in the corner of the drawer. It read: '_These are a loan from my mother – she wore them when she accompanied father at his coming-of-age ball. Draco.'_

Jeni smiled, feeling warmed by Narcissa's kindness, and gave herself one last look over in the mirror before going out and letting Draco do the same, which made her smile even more.

"Shall we?" he asked formally, offering his arm.

Jeni inclined her head slightly in acquiescence, and placed her hand lightly upon his arm.

They made their way back to the same door above the stairs from which they'd already made their entrance once. This time, Draco's father would officially announce his coming-of-age. She could hear, once more, the noise of the party inside, and then how it became louder just before dying off as Lucius called for silence. He seemed to talk for a minute or so, although Jeni couldn't distinguish most of it, except for a few words like 'Draco', 'seventeenth birthday' and 'proud'. Then the doors were opening, she heard them be announced and they were on their way down the stairs again.

At least, Jeni thought, as she often did, I just have to follow Draco.

Soon enough, it was over. They were down the stairs and into the crowd, which was slowly making its way back to dancing, drinking and talking. Draco led her over to where Blaise, Henri and the others were. The boys slapped Draco on the back, congratulating him and wishing him happy birthday. Blaise greeted Jeni and kissed her on the cheek, making her blush slightly, surprised, and Henri handed her a drink. Jeni felt herself being accepted for the first time.

She and Henri turned away from the others, who were all crowded around Draco. "So," she asked, "how've you been?"

Henri smirked, amused. "It's only been – what? A day or two?"

"Well, yes," Jeni said, "but the last time we spoke was a bit," she paused to think, "emotional," she decided, "for both of us."

"Ah yes," Henri said. "Have you spoken to Scarlet since?"

"No," she replied, "I haven't. But don't change the topic!"

"Worth a try," Henri returned. He looked around. "You should be able to speak to her tonight."

"Only if Draco's there. Anyway, what about you? Have you spoken with Emily?"

"Not really. I mean, she's around her somewhere. I've seen her, but I don't think she really wants to talk to me. We didn't exactly part on the best terms last time."

"No," Jeni agreed. "But she'll come around in her own time. Henri, I can't help asking…"

Henri looked at her, slightly suspicious.

"Now that you're decided, do you, you know…"

He waited.

"Do you…have your eye on anyone?"

Henri laughed. "Not as yet, no."

Jeni looked disappointed.

"And I can't promise that, should that come about, you'd be the first to hear. You know, after last time…"

Jeni looked positively crestfallen. Henri laughed again. "Just kidding," he reassured her. She perked up again, just as Blaise was coming over.

"Well done," he told her. "That was a very convincing performance."

Jeni smiled, so happy that he had praised her. "Later," he continued, "after you have your first dance with Draco, I am requisitioning your second."

She laughed at his formal request….or command. "Of course," she replied. "And," she added, turning to Henri, "I want to make sure I get a dance with you, too."

"I'll be sure of that," he said.

It was at this moment that Draco came over to stand by her side, bringing with him Pansy, Theo, Millicent and Gregory. Jeni suddenly found herself surrounded by Slytherins, and it was a little discomforting, although she felt almost safe at the same time. They talked for a while, mostly around her it seemed, although Jeni didn't mind. She eventually had a chance to take the first sip of the drink Henri had given her, which was…well, she didn't quite know what it was. It might have been champagne, but it tasted rather more pleasant than the last time she'd tried the stuff, so maybe it was something else.

Soon, Draco excused them, and they were able to talk to Scarlet, who had also extricated herself from her conversation with several old and boring looking wizards. It was the first time Jeni had spoken to her mother since that time in the library a couple of days ago, and she wasn't quite sure what to say to her.

"Oh, just look at you!" Scarlet said before Jeni had a chance to say anything at all, giving her a kiss on the cheek. Apparently, Jeni thought, this was something her new family did. "You've grown to be more beautiful than I ever could have hoped." Jeni blushed. "And your dance," she continued, turning to Draco, "was wonderful! I'm so proud of both of you! Anyway, what have you two been up to the last couple of days?"

"Oh, the usual," Draco replied. "Horse riding, flying."

Jeni spoke for the first time. "What do all the adults do, while they're here?"

"Terribly boring stuff. Which is why, I imagine, they blow up most of it." Jeni remembered the boats they'd seen the day before. "Let's see…croquet, horse riding too. That's quite fun I suppose. I've been spending quite a bit of time with Pansy's mum, and Narcissa, which is always nice – the three of us are all in the same boat, really. Henri's mother, Sylvie, is very nice too, although she's rather the social butterfly, so we don't see a lot of her." She glanced back over her shoulder, to where Christian was looking pointedly at her. "I'd better go – 'wifely duties' and all that to fulfil." She kissed them both again, then turned and went back to her husband.

"So," Draco said, "how about that dance?"

Blaise had obviously been paying attention – as soon as the first song that Draco and Jeni had had together was over, he was there by their sides.

"If I didn't know better, Blaise," Draco said with a smile, "I'd think you were trying to steal my girlfriend."

"Now, now, Draco," Blaise replied, "it's only a dance." Both boys laughed, and Draco went to offer Pansy a dance.

"I saw you managed a quick word to mum," Blaise said quietly as they started dancing.

"'Quick' being the main part of it," Jeni said. 'Your dad was practically breathing down her neck the whole time."

"Well, he does that. It's lucky Draco's her godson, else there wouldn't be much hope for you two seeing each other in public."

Jeni sighed. Whilst she was glad to know her mother was alive, what chance did they have of any sort of relationship? Jeni wondered.

"Again, you're lucky there," Blaise said.

"Gods, are all Slytherins mind readers or something?" Jeni interrupted.

"To some extent, I expect most of them are. In any case, what I was going to say was that Draco and mum are quite close; he's like a second mother to her. Narcissa…well, she does try, but I don't think she was really ever the hugs and kisses sort. She's much less strong-willed than mum is. So it wouldn't be too much of a stretch for her to take you…what do they call it?...under her wing, I think is the phrase. After all," he continued, putting on an aristocratic air, "you are but a lowly commoner, in need of instruction in the ways of the rich."

Jeni laughed. "Draco's taught me plenty."

"He has," Blaise agreed, "as you have demonstrated. But, well, forgive my intrusion, but have you thought about your relationship in the long term?"

Jeni looked at Blaise blankly. She had, now that she came to think about it, never really considered the future. She and Draco had only been together a few months, and despite the strength of her feelings for him, and their disastrous confessions to each other, she'd never thought much past the present – her main concern having been, recently, the event which she was currently attending.

Blaise smiled knowingly. "I can see that you haven't then," he said. "Don't worry about it, but it's probably worth some thought. Draco cares about you a lot-"

"I care about him too!" Jeni cut in.

"Yes, I know," Blaise reassured her. "But you're both still young, so there's no rush."

Jeni thought this was a very serious statement to be coming from someone only a year older than her.

"I'm your brother," Blaise said. "It's my job. And in a brotherly way, I thoroughly approve of you and Draco." He smirked. Jeni laughed.

That was where the song ended. And, as if by some sort of magic, Henri was standing at her side. "Someone's popular tonight," Blaise said as he left to reclaim Pansy.

Jeni giggled, then turned to hug Henri tightly, ignoring the barely concealed looks of shock from several of the people around them. As they started to dance, Jeni noticed there was a difference between dancing with Henri, and dancing with Draco or Blaise. Maybe it was just that he wasn't as tall as them, or that he was slighter, but though he led just the same, there was less power in it, it was much gentler, or softer.

"Henri," Jeni said, "we really should do something together during the next few days. I mean, it's been great to have so much time with Draco, but I miss seeing you. What have you been doing? In fact," she continued, not giving him room to answer, "what's anyone been doing? You, or Blaise, or Pansy…?"

"Oh, nothing of great consequence," he replied, "but that's half the point, isn't it, of holidays. Um…we've been playing games, or just relaxing. Draco's got a great library here, and…oh, we've played Quidditch a bit."

"Quidditch? You mean there's actually a pitch here?"

"After a fashion, yes. Well, you have to get the house elves to put up the hoops for you, and we haven't enough people for whole seven against seven teams, but it works out quite well. Just cut out the beaters and we can cover everything else."

"We should all play together!" Jeni said. "Well, at least, you lot can, I'm horrible at Quidditch. I'll keep score or something… I can't believe Draco hasn't mentioned it!"

"Probably because he's been perfectly happy having 'alone' time with you," Henri explained. "But that's only to be expected, really. School's so hectic and all that."

"Don't remind me. I just remembered all that homework we've been set that I haven't even looked at yet. We were out of Hogwarts practically the second classes finished!"

"We'll still have some holidays when we get back. I don't think we'll be seeing much of each other then."

"No, I don't suppose so. Still, it's nice to have some time away from school. Big as the castle is, it's difficult being there all the time. Especially in winter – it's harder to get outside."

"Yes, I agree. And summer always seems so far away at this time of year. Although…"

"Although what?" Jeni asked, as Henri didn't continue after a few moments.

"Although you'll find out later." Henri seemed to take great delight in not telling her.

Jeni sighed in frustration. The song ended, and they stepped apart. And then, the person that Jeni least wanted to dance with was there, waiting to take over.

Lucius Malfoy.

"Miss Starre," he said, greeting her, his head inclined and his hand offered.

He doesn't…Jeni thought. He didn't expect her to dance with him, did he?

But a few seconds passed, and he hadn't moved. And she hadn't woken up screaming again. She curtsied in return, feeling that there was no escape from something which certainly terrified her more than the performance dance had.

Jeni took Lucius's hand, and followed him, albeit reluctantly, in the waltz around the room.

"How have you been enjoying your time here?" he asked.

It took a few seconds for her to register that he'd spoken, given the high state of anxiety that she was in. "Um," she said, "very much. The castle and the grounds are all very beautiful."

"Thank you. It's a tradition that every Malfoy generation adds something of their own to the estate. The dragon colony that I believe you've glimpsed is my legacy." Somehow, Jeni wasn't at all surprised. "But now, Miss Starre, Draco has told me very little of your family." Jeni swore something very unpleasant in her head.

"Well," she said, as conversationally as she could manage, "there's not much to tell. My parents are both healers, and they live in a small town called New Romney on the south-east coast where they have their own healing practice."

"I see. What years were your parents at Hogwarts?" Lucius asked. "I don't remember anyone with that surname whilst I was there…"

Luckily, Draco had thought of this. For Jeni's parents to have totally different years, they would need to either be much older than Lucius or Jeni would have to have been born when her mother was eighteen or younger. "Neither of them went to Hogwarts," she replied. "My father is Australian, and my mother is German, she went to Durmstrang. They met when dad was travelling around Europe, and decided England was a fair place to live – English speaking but not far from mum's family."

"That explains it," Lucius said contemplatively.

Thankfully, at that moment, the song ended and Draco appeared just as surprisingly as his Lucius had.

"Time's up father," he said with a smirk.

Lucius returned it quite identically. Jeni attempted an expression which she hoped seemed like she would have liked to continue their conversation. As soon as he had gone, she crushed Draco's fingers in her hand.

"All right, all right," he said, chuckling gently. "It's over."

As the night wore on, Jeni grew tired. She'd danced and danced, and drunk more of that champagne-like-stuff than she probably should have. And so after some time, Draco kissed her good night, and got Henri to escort her back to her room – it wasn't long until the other reason for their being there would commence, and he wanted her well out of the way before then. Henri saw her back and left her at the door. Jeni made it indoors and to the bed, and after that…well, she fell asleep right away.

* * *

The next morning, Jeni woke slowly. She was lying curled on her right side, face buried in the pillow. Her head felt foggy, and she had the sense that not only was she still wearing her ball gown, but she wasn't in her own bed. Well, she thought, she knew she wasn't at home…Cracking open an eye, she noticed that the sheets were black. Okay, she corrected, definitely not even her bed at Draco's. Her mind began to clear, and she realised that there was a weight across her body. 

Draco's arm was protectively across her, his hand resting on her breast.

Moving his arm gently, she slipped from under it and forced herself to her feet, her dress rustling softly around her. Draco stirred, but he didn't wake. Jeni left the room, being careful to go as quietly as she could through the door.

Back in her own room, she remembered faintly that she'd gone to Draco's room to await his return from the ceremony. She must have fallen asleep straight after that, as she couldn't remember anything else.

Halfway to her bedroom, an idea struck her. After all, Draco had gone to all that effort buying that nightie, even if it had just been to embarrass her. It seemed a shame not to try the thing on, didn't it?

It took Jeni a few minutes to locate where she'd stuffed it at the time, since she hadn't been in a very thoughtful mood.

Once she'd found it, she took it into the dressing room, removing her gown and replacing it carefully on its stand before slipping the nightie over her head. It was made of the darkest emerald green satin, with frothy silvery grey lace around the neckline and hem.

Well, she thought, once she had it on, it wasn't as short as she'd feared. Not that she'd venture out in the thing, but…it would serve its purpose. She left the room and tip-toed back to Draco's bedroom, sliding under the covers and moving close to him, settling one hand over his waist, the other tucked neatly between them, and nuzzling her nose under his chin. She sighed the sigh of one who was about to drift off to sleep, noticing, as Draco's hand moved possessively back around her although he still had not woken, that his forearm was tightly bandaged. And then she was asleep again, the sound of Draco's soft breathing filling her ears.

* * *

Jeni didn't know how much time passed before she became aware of the feeling of someone gently kissing her forehead. She moved her head upward as she stirred, and they moved down, kissing her eyelids, her nose and finally her mouth. 

"Merry Christmas," Draco murmured, breaking the kiss.

"Merry Christmas," Jeni replied with a smile, her eyes still closed.

"Is this my Christmas present?" Draco asked suggestively, running his fingers lightly over the silky fabric that covered her back.

Jeni shivered, arching slightly against him, before answering "No…but," now with the sense that she should perhaps move, "I'll go and get -"

"Later," Draco cut her off. "There's no need to move now."

"Did…" she began, in an effort to change the topic, before stopping. She was desperate to know at the same time as not wanting to know anything at all. Draco waited. "Did it hurt terribly?" she eventually asked.

"Yes," Draco replied after a long pause. She didn't think him inclined to say anything further, but a moment later he continued.

"Jeni, what I had to do…well, there were terrible things involved, and I could never put that upon you."

It was as she had expected then – Draco wasn't going to tell her anything of what had happened. "What about…you said that they were planning to …"

"Luckily they failed. But…even without the Dark Lord, the Deatheaters themselves are enough of a force to be reckoned with. It seems they intend to continue his work – getting rid of the muggleborns and restoring the influence that the pureblood families, like the Malfoys and the Parkinsons, used to hold. And they will do so, with or without their leader." Draco sighed. "Although, I can't help but feel that he still exists. Such a man could not have been defeated so easily, particularly given the measures he took to guarantee his own immortality."

Jeni shivered again, although this time for a different reason, and Draco tightened his hold on her.

"I will _never_ let anything happen to you," he said. "Jeni," he moved his hand to tilt her chin up, looking her in the eye, "you're the reason I have to continue, the one thing I have worth protecting. And I will never let anyone take you from me."

"I know," she whispered, leaning forward to bridge the gap between their lips.

They lay there some time more, Jeni drifting in and out of sleep, until she decided it'd been long enough.

"I don't know why you do it, but I can't abide by this staying in bed until god knows what hour on Christmas day. I'm going to get your present." And ignoring Draco's protests, she wiggled out from under the covers and went back to her room, again struggling to remember where she'd put it.

It certainly hadn't been easy – after all, what do you get for someone who can buy anything they want? But nonetheless, Jeni felt she'd done the best she could.

Back in Draco's room, she lay down on her stomach on the bed, and placed the black, leather covered book in the lap of the now upright Draco. He glanced at her, then back to the book, and opened the cover. From the first page, Jeni, Draco and Henri waved back up at him – Draco somewhat less enthusiastically, but all the same... He turned the first page, and the next, and from each one some combination of the three of them smiled, waved or smirked, Draco's photographic-self occasionally pulling Jeni into a close embrace.

Draco was silent.

"It's funny, isn't it," Jeni commented, noticing the silence was a good one, "that even if you don't know your photo's being taken, your photo-self knows." Draco's expression told her that he was trying to think when they'd been taken. She'd noticed in the manor the complete lack of any photos of their family or, well, of anything. Draco didn't seem about to speak any time soon, so she continued. "I asked Colin to take them…with some incentive he was completely up for it. You know, it's amazing what people will do if you're _nice_ to them…or pay them, whichever."

Still seemingly unable to speak, Draco put the book aside and shifted over, leaning down to kiss her. "And now," he said, after a long moment, "it's your turn."

"But!" Jeni objected, pushing herself up on her hands, "I didn't think…you've already given me so much! You shouldn't have…" Draco placed his finger on her lips to silence her, and then handed her a small black box that he had produced out of nowhere. Hesitantly she took it. Glancing up at Draco cautiously, like he had done to her before, she carefully clicked open the lid of the box.

Inside was a thin silver ring with a star-shaped emerald set in the middle. Jeni's breath caught in her throat, and she looked back up at Draco.

"It's not…"he began, then stopped. "Well, it's…a promise ring."

Jeni blinked. She'd heard of such things, but only in the romance books she used to read.

"Since you're not seventeen yet…it's the closest thing I could get…and you don't have to think about it or anything…"

"Draco…"Jeni finally managed to say. He looked at her, and for the first time that she could remember, she could see that he was nervous. Of what? she thought. That she would reject him? Putting the box aside and moving forward, she crawled across the bed to him, placing one hand either side of his body, her knee between his legs, and leaning forward until their noses were almost touching. She looked straight into his eyes; although she couldn't focus they were so close to each other.

"Draco, I love you." She smiled slightly. "And you can't stop me saying it ever again."

Draco half closed his eyes, sliding his hand up her arm to the back of her neck. "I love you too," he replied, tugging her the last inch forward.

* * *

Around lunch time they met up with Henri, who Jeni presented with a dark blue leather bound journal.

"It seems to me," she said, "that you need it more now then when I first bought it."

Henri smiled, in turn gifting her a beautiful scarf in shades of pink and orange. "It was mum's idea," he objected when she threw her arms around his neck.

Jeni had noticed, when they'd finally emerged from Draco's room, that it was snowing outside, and a thick blanket of the stuff already carpeted the ground. And so after they had exchanged gifts, Jeni returned to her room to put away Henri's gift, and get ready to go out. On her bed, however, was a large, square, wrapped present, which she was quite sure hadn't been there before. She put down the scarf and experimentally picked up the box – it was heavier than she'd expected. Sitting down on the edge of the bed and placing it beside her, she carefully unwrapped it.

Inside was a mahogany jewellery box, with a lid and several drawers of varying size down the sides. But when she opened the lid, the space inside seemed to occupy the entire box. Jeni frowned, and opened a few of the drawers. It must be enchanted in some way, she thought, since there were so many more compartments than would fit in a box even twice its size.

One of the drawers contained a letter, although Jeni was already quite sure she knew who it was from. She felt she could almost sense the smile that Scarlet must have had whilst writing it.

_Merry Christmas._

_I think that from now you will have great need of this, given what you have already received. And take note, the box has more than one secret._

* * *

Haha! The end of the chapter. I'm now down to twice-yearly updates, although that's all I can handle really. However, I don't believe this story has much longer to go (this does translate into probably a couple more years, but there you go). TT Uni takes a lot of time… 

I think when this IS finally finished, whenever that may be, it will be relieving, but sad. Since this has been going on for…almost four years? And even…or should I say _especially_ I can see how much my writing's improved. It's amazing to think that in the story's timeline only a few months have passed…almost four months. That's a month of story for a year of writing…sortofnotreally. DX

Anyway, I'll stop blabbing now…it's like talking to myself but written D

Please review!! But don't say anything mean… happy comments!!  (Although anyone who's made it this far must like it, right??)


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